Need help stepping up a starter

I've allways just made a 600ml starter in my 1L flask and pitched the whole thing.
I hear people talk about stepping up their starter, but I've never got the details.

Do you just add some fresh wort every day or two?
Do you decant the fermented liguid, and add fresh?
How often do you step?

Once you've made the big starter, do you decant, or pitch the whole thing?

Thanks

I think it's best to keep the yeast constantly multiplying, so you would not want to settle out the yeast after they're done and decant. Especially not by putting in the fridge. How big of a starter are you planning on making? is 600-800mL the goal? I've done 800-900mL in my 1L flask with very good results, but for a heavier beer in a few weeks I will be stepping up to at least double that. I think generally you would wait until the yeast are tapering off in their fermentation, then add more wort. Decanting would also increase their working concentration which I think would be a problem, they need more room. I'm planning on waiting until the krausen is just starting to drop to add more wort. Haven't actually done it yet, but this is my plan in 2 weeks.

Plan9 said:

I've allways just made a 600ml starter in my 1L flask and pitched the whole thing.
I hear people talk about stepping up their starter, but I've never got the details.

Do you just add some fresh wort every day or two?
Do you decant the fermented liguid, and add fresh?
How often do you step?

Once you've made the big starter, do you decant, or pitch the whole thing?

Thanks

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You just add fresh wort to the starter, ideally in high krausen phase, usualy later (fermenting each step takes 24-48 hours). You should step-up no more than 1:10 (others say 1:4), I use two paths: 100 ml->1L for ales, 100 ml->0.5L -> 2-3L for lagers.

If starter is bigger than 1L, you should decant the spent wort.

In brew day I wake up the starter with big portion of fresh wort, while the beer is cooled overnight outdoors. Last time I used 4 liters, when I pitched it in the morning, the lager started almost instantly.

I'm reculturing Pacman from a Rogue bottle. I've never had any luck, so I didn't have a brew planned.

I'm thinking of stepping it up to a gallon, and then washing the yeast to use later in the year.

This link: MB Raines, Ph.D. - Guide to Yeast Culturing for Homebrewers - Maltose Falcons Home Brewing Society (Los Angeles Homebrewing)
has been mentioned here many times. I find it to be the most concise, readable explanations of yeast propogation for brewing. One of the points of emphasis is to not attempt too large of a step. A large step increases the amount of time the yeast takes to reach a stationary stage. This in and of itself is not necessarily a bad thing. It just gives other fast-growing unfriendly critters more of an opportunity to contaminate your starter media.

I've been experimenting with step up sizes while propogating yeast for my last few brews. I've started with 10ml as a first step each time. I tried a 4X volume step the first try with good results, but it takes over a week to get up to the 1500ml I've been using for a starter. The last attempt at 10-12X steps produced a fully attenuated starter at the end of 6 days. YMMV.

I culture in a one gallon bottle and have done a 1/4 gallon start, add another 1/4 after 36 hours, then add 1/2 gallon after another 36 hours. I then chilled for 12 hours and decanted. Ended up with quite a bit of yeast, I would guess a couple cups. I also used a home made stir plate which I am sure helped quite a bit.

I woke the yeast up a few hours in advance with a quarter gallon or so of wort and when I pitched things started within a few hours.

raceskier said:

I've started with 10ml as a first step each time.

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So small? I guess you use slants?

Piotr said:

So small? I guess you use slants?

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Yup. I'm building up a nice little yeast bank. I've pressure canned starter wort as well. I save a few bucks on each brew. Just have to plan ahead a little bit.

Yeah, canning starter wort is my next project.

Did you hop yours at all, or is it just malt?

raceskier said:

Yup. I'm building up a nice little yeast bank.

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So do I, but in alternative way - I freeze the yeast in glicerol. So far, one year old samples start with no problems. How it goes with slants?

Question on pitching yeast from starters or step up's, does the wort used in the starter or step up's have any negative effect on your beer you are pitching into?

if it's a large starter (>1L) going into a lighter beer, then it could have a large impact on flavor. Darker beers not so much. But yes, it CAN. Will it? probably not most of the time. I've been making my starters 3 days early so I throw them in the fridge the night before and decant the wort, leaving just enough to swirl up the yeast. For me, decanting is the way I want to go. Others will say there may still be the most active yeast in suspension that you don't want to leave behind.

I do hop my starter wort.

My yeast bank has only been going about 3 months now. Good success so far.

I do the ferment to completion, breathing through a sterile closure on a stirplate, chill to settle and dump the oxidized wort routine.

I do 150g DME into 1500mL water, let it go for two days and pitch the whole thing.
I've thought about crashing out in the fridge and decanting, but wouldn't it might make the yeast sluggish?
My fermentations start in hours.

I've cooled and decanted the wort off of all my starters but one, and I had co2 produced within 2 hours on the last one. Took the yeast out of the fridge a few hours before, let it come up to temp, pitched at 70 and set in a 65 degree basement. Within 8 hours I had good bubbling starting.