Pitching equal yeast amounts into 2 carboys?

OK, so right now I am just doing 5.5 gal batches in a 6.5 gal carboy. Works great. No problems. BUT, I am starting to plan for doing 10-12 gal batches and I just thought... "how do I pitch equal amounts of yeast from my starter into two separate carboys???"
Obviously I will need two primary fermenters, but I know that pitching different amounts of yeast DOES affect the beer in the end. So how do you guys do it? I don't want to end up with two slightly different beers, I want them to be exactly the same.

Just measure, really...

If the volume of the yeast starter is too small to measure accurately, pour whatever quantity of wort you want, into the starter, swirl it well, then measure the larger volume (as quickly as possible after swirling it up).

You have to make twice the starter anyhow, so splitting it is easy. My flask has numbers on it.

You could measure what ever your starter is in and make a mark 1/2 way.

David

So when I buy yeast (lets say a Wyeast SmackPak) I should buy 2 of them and just make 2 totally separate starters, the same size?
Could I effectively just buy 1 pak (to save money) and then double the size of my starter by mixing twice as much water and DME? Maybe give it a couple extra days to grow before pitching?

macabra11 said:

So when I buy yeast (lets say a Wyeast SmackPak) I should buy 2 of them and just make 2 totally separate starters, the same size?
Could I effectively just buy 1 pak (to save money) and then double the size of my starter by mixing twice as much water and DME? Maybe give it a couple extra days to grow before pitching?

Click to expand...

You could easily buy one pack, and make a starter big enough for 10 gallons. Either make a smaller starter, and "step it up" by adding more wort in a couple of days, or make a larger volume starter at the beginning. If you consult mrmalty.com's pitching calculator, that will help tremendously! Then, just split the starter in half (easiest if you have a flask with graduated markings, but still possible if not) and you're in business. Mr Malty Pitching Rate Calculator

Wyeast says they have 100 Billion cells in an activator pack for 5 gallons. They also say its pitchable from the pack.

You could surly pitch 25 billion cells (propagator) in to 3 or 4 quarts of wort.

Shake the starter as often as you can.

I just checked with Mr. Malty. We don't agree....

David

Erlenmeyer Flask

For liquid yeast, I use White Labs vials since my LHBS only carries a few Wyeast strains. I make 2 separate starters in Erlenmeyer flasks with one vial of yeast by pouring the whole vial into a sanitized graduated cylinder. The total volume comes to about 35ml, so I just pour ~17ml in each flask.

OK, I took a look at the Mr Malty Calculator and I am not sure if I totally understand it. I have always done this https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/how-make-yeast-starter-pictorial-76101/ when making starters. Like I said, this has been for 5.5 gal batches. But according to the Mr Malty calc, if I only want to use 1 pack of yeast for a 10 gal 1.060 beer, I would need to make a 2.85 gal starter!!!! Holy crap!!! That's half a batch of what I'm doing now!!! That is NOT going to fit in an Erlenmeyer Flask! That would take a TON of DME as well. And how long would that starter take to make???

Another thing that I read on the forums is to save the leftover wort from your mashtun (after reaching your target boil volume), freeze it, then use it when you want to make a starter. No DME involved. What would be needed (how much wort) to make this work for a starter for 10 gal batches?

Brain is swelling.... ahhhhhH!

stirplate FTW. Brings that 2.8 gal starter down to 1 gal.