Yeast starter - should I pitch entire thing or just yeast sediment?

Currently brewing a beer and did my first yeast starter yesterday. I've been swishing it around all day yesterday and this morning and because of that I'm not sure if I should pitch the entire starter or just the bottom yeast cake. Hopefully this picture helps. I'm brewing a Kolsch so I wasn't sure if I wanted to pitch the starter (1L) and effect the color. Suggestions would be appreciated.



Sorry if pic doesn't work. Maybe try this:

https://picasaweb.google.com/111032679746048495193/December282011#5691253504246763826

I would pour out about half of that starter. Mix the remaining half really well and dump it into your wort

Are you brewing today? If so, then just pour off the liquid, add some of your just-cooled wort, swish around and dump into the fermenter.

If you are brewing sometime in the future, keep it in the frig (it will clear more) then pour off the liquid on brew day and pitch.

FWIW, It's the yeast I need so I never add the top liquid.

I typically dump the liquid, leaving just a bit on top of the yeast, swirl it all around to get it mixed up and make sure that I'm not leaving clumps of yeast behind, then dump that in when it's time.

I also know some people that don't decant their starters, ever... and they make absolutely fantastic beer. So just like so many other things in this hobby, it comes down to personal preference.

I used the whole thing on a batch the other day. The added malt was calculated into the mix. I don't know if there is harm when added to an all extract batch.

It's really personal preference. I pitch the entire starter, and my beers turn out fantastic. No off-flavors from the yeast starter.

Usually I make the starter a few days in advance on a stir plate. I let it settle overnight in the refrigerator before brew day. I then bring it out and let it get up to pitching temp, then decant and pitch just the slurry. But, if you are making the starter on brew day you can pitch the whole thing. I would try to keep it below a liter as pitching 2 or 3 liters of starter could cause some off flavors.

I made a pretty big (3 liter) starter on my last brew. I fridged it overnight and poured out the liquid on top. Didn't seem like pouring that much oxidized stale smelling beer into my fresh wort was a good idea, but maybe it doesn't make a difference.

I always use extra-light DME when I am making a starter it helps prevent adding color to the beer.

When I make a 1 to 1.5 liter starter I just pour the whole thing in. If making a larger starter I would recommend chilling for 24 hours to drop the yeast out of suspension, decant the liquid and pitch the cake.

It is a good idea to let the starter run its course 3-4 days if you want to decant the liquid off, also if you want to decant then be sure to chill the starter otherwise you will dump out very good yeast!

Any starter is better than no starter so good luck and keep on brewing!

If brewing today decant leaving a little liquid behind swish and pitch.
If brewing tomorrow set if fridge overnight decant in morning and leave out to warm to temp, swish and pitch.
If brewing after that make another starter decant this pitch into new starter then follow above.

Thanks for all the great advice. I attempted to decant it and the yeast cake wasn't that compact so I didn't want to risk it. I decanted about 1/4 of it and just shook and poured in the rest....The starter really was easy to do though. It'd be even easier if/once I get a flash and a stir plate.

I made my first starter last night. I think I'm going to do the same as you and decant a little bit and pour the rest. I also wanted to say good luck Cincy, coming from a steelers fan!

I just pour the whole thing in. Never experienced any ill effects and have an award for one so. It's personal preference.

Ideal would be to cool it down to clear out more, decant, swish up and then pitch when it's back to pitching temps (~room temp). Next would be to pour off about half of that, swish, and pitch. You can pitch the whole thing, but the "spent beer" isn't going to help your beer. It might not hurt it, but it won't help it. Esp. with a lager starter where the volumes are much higher, you end up adding a fairly sizable volume (percentage wise) of wort to your fermenter that isn't of the quality / gravity you're likely targeting.

mmonacel said:

Ideal would be to cool it down to clear out more, decant, swish up and then pitch when it's back to pitching temps (~room temp). You can pitch the whole thing, but the "spent beer" isn't going to help your beer. It might not hurt it, but it won't help it. Esp. with a lager starter where the volumes are much higher, you end up adding a fairly sizable volume (percentage wise) of wort to your fermenter that isn't of the quality / gravity you're likely targeting.

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I totally agree with this. This goes through my mind every time I see someone post that it's ok to pitch 1-1.5 liters of crappy 1.030-1.040 starter wort into 20 liters of wort of a carefully planned recipe. If changing an ingredient by 3% totally would change the final product that you are brewing, why wouldn't adding 5% of starter wort (1 liter into 20 liters) not also change your final product?
I'm not saying that you won't still make a good beer, but why add it if it's not necessary? This is just my thinking.

dand9066 said:

I made my first starter last night. I think I'm going to do the same as you and decant a little bit and pour the rest. I also wanted to say good luck Cincy, coming from a steelers fan!

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If it doesn't settle or cool you may have a hard time decanting it. I decanted a little bit but didn't want to take the chance of losing the yeast.

The Bengals are going to need some luck to make it to the playoffs. I used to absolutely hate the Steelers but deep down wish the Bengals were just like them...And I love Tomlin (ex-Bearcats coach).

I make my starter from the batch itself - otherwise I'd probably decant so as not to affect the flavor of the beer. I just brewed a Kolsch the other day - what was your recipe?

wolverinebrewer said:

If changing an ingredient by 3% totally would change the final product that you are brewing, why wouldn't adding 5% of starter wort (1 liter into 20 liters) not also change your final product?

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I personally haven't ever found a 3% change making any major difference. But if you want to use this reasoning I would say because that 3% is more concentrated than a starter's wort is. A starter wort is mostly water, then there's a little alcohol, some unconverted sugars, etc. It's not like adding 3% of pure DME to a recipe. And even still, adding 0.28lb of extra light DME to a 9lb grain bill (figuring your 3% quote) isn't gonna do squat to effect your beer.

IMO, a standard size starter with a typical lower gravity won't make any difference pitching the whole thing. Of course, if one is making a monster starter for a high gravity beer that's a different story.


Rev.

BrewMU said:

I make my starter from the batch itself - otherwise I'd probably decant so as not to affect the flavor of the beer. I just brewed a Kolsch the other day - what was your recipe?

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Type: Extract
Batch Size: 5.25 gal
Boil Size: 6.50 gal
Boil Time: 60 min

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
5.00 lb Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 83.33 %
1.00 lb Wheat Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 16.67 %
1.00 oz Pearle [8.00 %] (60 min) Hops 25.7 IBU
0.25 oz Liberty [3.90 %] (30 min) Hops 2.7 IBU
1 Pkgs Kolsch Yeast (Wyeast Labs #2565) Yeast-Ale

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.050 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.012 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.94 %
Bitterness: 28.4 IBU Calories: 217 cal/pint
Est Color: 4.1 SRM

good info here, just got my stir plate for stirstarters.com and a flask, so i can use it for my double deception cream stout.. mmmmmm

cincybrewer said:

Type: Extract
Batch Size: 5.25 gal
Boil Size: 6.50 gal
Boil Time: 60 min

Ingredients

Amount Item Type % or IBU
5.00 lb Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 83.33 %
1.00 lb Wheat Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 16.67 %
1.00 oz Pearle [8.00 %] (60 min) Hops 25.7 IBU
0.25 oz Liberty [3.90 %] (30 min) Hops 2.7 IBU
1 Pkgs Kolsch Yeast (Wyeast Labs #2565) Yeast-Ale

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.050 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.012 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.94 %
Bitterness: 28.4 IBU Calories: 217 cal/pint
Est Color: 4.1 SRM

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I used 12# Pilsner malt and ~15 oz. of honey and made a somewhat oversized batch - ~6.25 gallons in the fermenter. I came out at OG 1.050 also - right at the upperend for the style like I'd planned. Mine is over-hopped per style guidelines (1.2 oz.15% AA Sorachi Ace 75 min., then another oz. of SA plus 2 oz. Saaz in the last 30 minutes) - yours is a lot truer to style. I use hop bags, then I squeeze them, re-boil the recovered wort and use it to make my starter. It solves the wasted-wort-in-the-hops problem, and gives me a yeast starter that won't change the taste of my beer. I guess the gravity is a little high - you could dilute it, or just collect wort from the later part of the sparge.