First attempt with starter and stir plate...

so I got my stir plate and picking up some yeast and a flask tonight. I want to make sure I got the process down pat.

So I add the water yeast and dme into The flask.

what speed should I Have my stir plate set at?

Just leave it spinning until I'm ready to use it? 36 hours or so.


Thanks...

Congrats on getting a stir plate and moving into starters. Do you plan to move into yeast culturing? Your simple wort will need to be boiled and cooled before adding it to the flask. The speed does not need to be high at all. As long as everything is spining then your ok. On my plate I find that if I go two low on the speed the corners of the flask don't get pushed around as much. But on the other end if I put it to high the simple wort will be pushed to the neck of the flask and the krausen will want to come out. When doing yeast from my cultures I do 25ml to 50ml to 250ml to 500ml to 1500ml step ups letting each one spin for 12 hours and letting the finale one (1500ml) spin for 24 hours. I'm getting great results this way. Check out the culturing sticky it's full of info and not as hard as it appears.

+1 to Krops13, I just make sure its spinning. As the yeast settles out in the latter part of the first 24 hours the spinner even occasionally gets stopped, but the point is taht the spinner keeps the wort moving, and keeps pushing out the co2 to make room for more O2 to keep the yeasties healthy and happy. If you don't spin it, its sill better than just direct pitching anyway. Some people talk about getting that awesome vortex/tornado in the middle. Mine almost never has taht, but I still get amazing results.

Thanks. Yes I plan to start a yeast farm. I've been reading a lot on that. But then today I thought. Wait I need to actaully do it... And I choaked and forgot everything I read.

I plan on starting with the starter today with some wyeast american for the cream of 3 crops beer.

Then saturday morning I'm taking my wee heavy with wyeast Scottish ale out of the primary bucket try washing it as described online then split it up stick it in the fridge and wait patiently.

Should I get a 2000ml or jump right into the 3000ml flask?

A 3000ml wouldn't hurt but make sure it will fit on your stir plate. A 2000ml fits just right on mine. Also the 2000s are a bit cheaper then the 3000s. After a 2000ml ferment I can cold crash decant the liquid off the yeast and yea up to 2000ml getting more growth. Also I have a gallon jug that I can transfer to for lagers or real high gravity beers.

How many flasks does the typical yeast farmer use?


From the sounds of it I would start with just 1. Maybe a second for back up or if I'm going to do a double batch.

Conodor said:

How many flasks does the typical yeast farmer use?


From the sounds of it I would start with just 1. Maybe a second for back up or if I'm going to do a double batch.

Click to expand...

I use two flasks when I harvest yeast from bottles, and then build up to a 2L starter in 3 or 4 steps depending on the quantity of dregs I get. E.g. I start with the 2L flask with 500mL of wort, then decant that and pitch into the 1L flask to make a 1L starter, then decant and pitch that into 2L of wort for my actual starter.

If I am just making a starter from an activator pack or White Labs vial, I will just use one flask and let it go.

Ahh I'm catching what your throwing.

the first batch or 2 I will use purchased viles. when I have time to Harvest microbrewery yeast. Would I just Buy a sixer of a similar beer and make it from that?

Yeast culturing and yeast washing are two different things. When you say farm that could mean ether of the two. I culture my yeast on malt agar slants and grow from a 'working' slant to help keep purity. I use a 50ml 500ml and 2000ml flasks.

I think I got it. There's 3 techniques we've been discussing. I think I'm just screwing the name of each.

1.) starter for yeast.
Yeast, Flask, dme and water to kick start and grow the volume of active yeast.

2.) harvesting yeast from microbrewery bottles.
Sixer of desired style to get yeast, flask, dme and water(yes I know there's more to sanitizing)

3.) washing and splitting. This is done post fermentation.
Turb, water, a few beakers.

I think this gives a 1/2 assed description of each.

I've been harvesting and freezing vials of yeast. It's a great way to get your money's worth from those $7 vials of yeast! Also keep in mind many small breweries are more than happy to give you yeast if you ask real nice I always have a sanitized mason jar with me when I go to a brewery just in case!

Ok got all the final pieces to my system. At a brew pub for my club meeting now. Hopefully I'm not to tipsy or lazy to get it going tonight.

saweeet. +1 for posting while at a club meeting. did you make the plate or buy it? all i need is the housing and resistor!

My club had a post holiday Party a few weeks back. I won a $50 gift cars from Williams brewing. So I just bought it. I did put a lot of thought into building one. But figured I didn't want to mess something up.

So I used my stirplate and first starter Today. Had the wife help while at work. She boiled and chilled for me. I it hit 70 when I got home. I added the yeast and set it on the stir plate.

The stir plate is a bit Smaller than I expected for a 2000ml flask. but its working.

I m above the 2000ml line after adding my wyeasr. We will see if. I have a mess in the morning.

USA. USA. USA. Go for the gold....