Brewery upgrades - 2 questions

Slowly but surely I'm upgrading my brewery. I built a stir plate and have a starter underway for my upcoming brew (not gonna get stuck with bad yeast again!)

Q1: When I'm ready to pitch, do I just dump the whole starter into the brew, or should I be chilling it and pouring off the beer on top? I've read conflicting opinons on this.

Q2: Previously I did 3GAL boils inside and topped up to 5G. I'm on a turkey fryer and 15GAL keggle now. Obviously I want to be doing a full boil. How much water should I start with so that I end up with the proper batch size? (I assume there is some trial and error)

I'm doing steeping grains and extracts for the time being. (next upgrade?)

I'll try pitching the whole shebang and see how it goes.

I guess that explains why my last batch was on the small side. I had about 5.5G in.

Thanks.

BTW - is there any downside to a bigger starter?

I may have gotten a bit over excited when I made my first starter on the new stir plate.

Get beersmith........it will take care of all the water measurements for you.

same to assume about 1g boiloff per hour.........plenty of calculators out there, just hit up google.......

altenmuenster said:

BTW - is there any downside to a bigger starter?

I may have gotten a bit over excited when I made my first starter on the new stir plate.

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It is possible to "over pitch". I couldn't say what the limits are, but yes, there is such a thing as too much yeast.

altenmuenster said:

Q1: When I'm ready to pitch, do I just dump the whole starter into the brew, or should I be chilling it and pouring off the beer on top? I've read conflicting opinons on this.

?)

Click to expand...

If you are brewing something delicate like a light lager or pilsner pitching the whole starter can effect the beer. You can just wait for the yeast to settle in the starter, pour the liquid out and pitch just the yeast in the bottom.
With an ale where flaws aren't as easily noticeable don't worry about it and pitch the whole thing.