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wobrien said:
Sly fox (it's pretty good too)
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Cool - I didn't know they canned it this year!

So, when I was on the treadmill this morning, the belt started to roll up (good thing a replacement is on the way) so I went out into the neighborhood. Was a bit of a shock walking out the door into that pea soup. Then the rain started halfway through. :(. Almost like someone was telling me to skip it today - but I persevered. :) Now onto more coffee and water with my oatmeal.
 
Water. I dislike the whole fasting blood work. I mean, it's the only time I think I am absolutely starving and dying for something other than water. Any other day, who cares.

/ramble.
 
I still am a bit uncertain about starters (I've only made one and it was the end step of harvesting dregs). I am still torn about the whole "decant" v "throw it all in" debate. I threw my entire 2L starter into the beer I have fermenting now. It is a big, dark beer so I was thinking it would mask any ill effects of doing that better than a lighter, smaller beer.

Here is my issue:

I hear people say that an "active" starter is best. But to have an "active" starter, don't you need to be pitching the whole thing? How do you decant a starter with the yeast still in suspension eating DME?
 
Coffee. Stayed up late working on my project. It needs a good cleaning but so far so good. Probably gonna plug it in later today as I wanted to let it sit after moving it all around and bending the freezer compartment.

1404394741407.jpg


1404394755785.jpg
 
Ridire said:
I still am a bit uncertain about starters (I've only made one and it was the end step of harvesting dregs). I am still torn about the whole "decant" v "throw it all in" debate. I threw my entire 2L starter into the beer I have fermenting now. It is a big, dark beer so I was thinking it would mask any ill effects of doing that better than a lighter, smaller beer.

Here is my issue:

I hear people say that an "active" starter is best. But to have an "active" starter, don't you need to be pitching the whole thing? How do you decant a starter with the yeast still in suspension eating DME?
Click to expand...

I think that so long as it has 'actively' been working/reproducing you are fine. Truely active would be a pitch whole, but it is still more active if you crash out and then decant and pitch than it would be straight out of the fridge where it has been napping for a while.
At least that is my opinion.

Water. I think I drank too much coffee this morning. I am wired.
 
DrunkleJon said:
I think that so long as it has 'actively' been working/reproducing you are fine. Truely active would be a pitch whole, but it is still more active if you crash out and then decant and pitch than it would be straight out of the fridge where it has been napping for a while.
At least that is my opinion.

Water. I think I drank too much coffee this morning. I am wired.
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I just went straight from stir plate to wort. I'll probably decant next time, as it will likely be a beer that won't mask slight off-flavors as well as this 1.080 stout.
 
mcbaumannerb said:
I usually tell myself that I will make my starter early enough to cold crash and decant before pitching. Reality so far has been pitching the entire starter since I haven't done it early enough yet :drunk:
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That makes me feel better. I've had your beer and wish I could make them that good.
 
Ridire said:
I just went straight from stir plate to wort. I'll probably decant next time, as it will likely be a beer that won't mask slight off-flavors as well as this 1.080 stout.
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Those are my thoughts as well. IMO the hour or so of added lag time is a bit of a non issue.
 
Ridire said:
I still am a bit uncertain about starters (I've only made one and it was the end step of harvesting dregs). I am still torn about the whole "decant" v "throw it all in" debate. I threw my entire 2L starter into the beer I have fermenting now. It is a big, dark beer so I was thinking it would mask any ill effects of doing that better than a lighter, smaller beer.

Here is my issue:

I hear people say that an "active" starter is best. But to have an "active" starter, don't you need to be pitching the whole thing? How do you decant a starter with the yeast still in suspension eating DME?
Click to expand...

Here's my feeling on this, and it's not backed up by much of anything, so take it for what it is...

It's not like there is a switch that's flipped from 'active' to 'inactive'. If you crash and decant your starter, (even if it's been a couple days since they were in full activity mode) I think you're still getting most of the benefits of the starter, if not all.

That said, I also usually don't plan ahead far enough to have time to decant the starter before pitching...
 
Ridire said:
I still am a bit uncertain about starters (I've only made one and it was the end step of harvesting dregs). I am still torn about the whole "decant" v "throw it all in" debate. I threw my entire 2L starter into the beer I have fermenting now. It is a big, dark beer so I was thinking it would mask any ill effects of doing that better than a lighter, smaller beer.

Here is my issue:

I hear people say that an "active" starter is best. But to have an "active" starter, don't you need to be pitching the whole thing? How do you decant a starter with the yeast still in suspension eating DME?
Click to expand...

I personally don't know why so many people stress over the fact that you "have" to decant your starter. Even in a hefe or cream ale you will not get off flavors from that starter wort, IMO. The yeast have done the same thing to the starter wort that you are wanting them to do for the beer. Starter wort is normally light or extra light DME, which is essentially base grain that is already in the beer-to-be, so you arent adding anything flavor wise that is extreme. Unless something has gone terribly wrong with your starter, I dont see how it could mess up your beer. At that point though I would even questions using the yeast as well. I have never decanted when I pitch yeast and I have never had issues or off flavors that werent caused by another source. The only off-flavors I have ever gotten were from a used fermentor, which is now safely at the dump. :D Sorry for the rant, just my 2 cents.
 
finsfan said:
I personally don't know why so many people stress over the fact that you "have" to decant your starter. Even in a hefe or cream ale you will not get off flavors from that starter wort, IMO. The yeast have done the same thing to the starter wort that you are wanting them to do for the beer. Starter wort is normally light or extra light DME, which is essentially base grain that is already in the beer-to-be, so you arent adding anything flavor wise that is extreme. Unless something has gone terribly wrong with your starter, I dont see how it could mess up your beer. At that point though I would even questions using the yeast as well. I have never decanted when I pitch yeast and I have never had issues or off flavors that werent caused by another source. The only off-flavors I have ever gotten were from a used fermentor, which is now safely at the dump. :D Sorry for the rant, just my 2 cents.
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The off flavors come from fermenting warm and being thoroughly oxidized. It's probably minimal effect on the final beer, but IMO decanting is simple and so I always do it.
 
wobrien said:
The off flavors come from fermenting warm and being thoroughly oxidized. It's probably minimal effect on the final beer, but IMO decanting is simple and so I always do it.
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My exact two concerns. And when you're doing a 2L starter into a 5.5 gallon batch, that is not a small % of the final product...that's nearly 10% of what gets into the fermenter.
 
wobrien said:
The off flavors come from fermenting warm and being thoroughly oxidized. It's probably minimal effect on the final beer, but IMO decanting is simple and so I always do it.
Click to expand...

True, if you taste the decanted starter beer, you'd probably question adding it to your wort. Perfect world and all, but again, the whole planning ahead part...I'm probably not going to postpone or cancel a brew day because I didn't get to decant my starter.
 
wobrien said:
The off flavors come from fermenting warm and being thoroughly oxidized. It's probably minimal effect on the final beer, but IMO decanting is simple and so I always do it.
Click to expand...

I guess I had never considered the temp control to be an issue. Great points!

Edit: After thinking about this, would the oxidation really have an affect? The wort is already oxidized before pitching anyway.
 
finsfan said:
I guess I had never considered the temp control to be an issue. Great points!

Edit: After thinking about this, would the oxidation really have an affect? The wort is already oxidized before pitching anyway.
Click to expand...

I think the oxidation shouldnt be a problem because it is essentially adding to the oxygenation of the wort. Heck, you probably dont need to oxygenate your wort that way come to think of it since the yeast will already have had a chance to get as much oxygen absorption as it needs for reproduction. Then again I am no scientist.
 
Ridire said:
I still am a bit uncertain about starters (I've only made one and it was the end step of harvesting dregs). I am still torn about the whole "decant" v "throw it all in" debate. I threw my entire 2L starter into the beer I have fermenting now. It is a big, dark beer so I was thinking it would mask any ill effects of doing that better than a lighter, smaller beer.

Here is my issue:

I hear people say that an "active" starter is best. But to have an "active" starter, don't you need to be pitching the whole thing? How do you decant a starter with the yeast still in suspension eating DME?
Click to expand...
Well I was talking about for skeeter pee but I do my starters and decant. I will be brewing Saturday and plan on making my starter in the next hour (I hope) so I can start to chill it and get it going. I decant because I do not control temps and I wasn't sure if that mattered when pitching all of the wort.
Fuzzymittenbrewing said:
I don't do the starter anymore, I just toss in 2 rehydrated packs of 1118.
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Thank you!!!one111!!! :D
Ridire said:
That makes me feel better. I've had your beer and wish I could make them that good.
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I bet you make good beer. Send some down so I can test. :D
mcbaumannerb said:
More coffee. Still have 3 1/2 hours more to "work"
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I should be done by 3 but some yahoo scheduled a ****ing 4 pm meeting for something that can just be told to me over the phone.

Iced coffee.
 
EdWort's Apfelwein. I'm thinking of making a batch...seems like no time commitment, just a fermenter commitment. So, my only real questions are:

1. Is it worth the time to make this?

2. EdWort says to make it in a 5 gallon carboy, but will headspace be bad for this? Will I be ok doing it in a 7 gallon carboy?

3. Do you guys carb this or drink it flat?
 
Ridire said:
EdWort's Apfelwein. I'm thinking of making a batch...seems like no time commitment, just a fermenter commitment. So, my only real questions are:

1. Is it worth the time to make this?

2. EdWort says to make it in a 5 gallon carboy, but will headspace be bad for this? Will I be ok doing it in a 7 gallon carboy?

3. Do you guys carb this or drink it flat?
Click to expand...

1. Hell yes! It will only take about a month, maybe two, to ferment all the way. I always drink a bottle or two the day I bottle and have never thought it was less than amazing. It does get better with time, but I dont think time is necessary for this to be drinkable.

2. I always top off to the bottom of the mouth. There is no krausen with this. If you have a 7 gallon carboy, just use 7 gallons of juice.

3. I have done both ways and prefer it flat. Plus its easier come time to bottle. :D
 
finsfan said:
If you have a 7 gallon carboy, just use 7 gallons of juice.
Click to expand...

That obvious solution occurred to me but I wasn't sure if I wanted to clean 70+ bottles for this project.

And what yeast is best for this? I have some old packets of dry US-04. If I make a starter to make sure I have viability, will that do what I want, or would you stick with the wine yeast?
 
Ridire said:
That obvious solution occurred to me but I wasn't sure if I wanted to clean 70+ bottles for this project.

And what yeast is best for this? I have some old packets of dry US-04. If I make a starter to make sure I have viability, will that do what I want, or would you stick with the wine yeast?
Click to expand...

Do you want it sweet or dry? Ale yeast will crap out earlier, leaving a slightly sweeter finished product.

Montrachet will go to .998
 

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