Starter pitch volume question

Does pitching a couple of pints of starter made with light DME make much difference to beer profile? I know the starter effectively is beer but john Palmer talks about decanting some of the wort off before pitching.

If I'm to decant I'll want to chill to get the yeasties out of suspension and throw away as few as possible in the wort, but then my yeast is chilled and not optimum for pitching.

I haven't ever noticed a big difference when I pitch the whole starter in, but it certainly will dilute it somewhat. Ideally you would want to decant it, but in order to do this you would have to crash chill it in the fridge for a day or two and I usually forget to make my starter early enough to do this.

Don't worry about pitching the yeast cold either. I can't say I've noticed a huge difference in how soon a krausen forms with either cold or warm yeast from a starter. Mind you, I've never pitched a starter at high krausen. You may well notice activity sooner with that method. Mind you, a quick starting fermentation is not neccesarily the best fermentation.

Tech211 said:

Mind you, a quick starting fermentation is not neccesarily the best fermentation.

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What do you mean by this? You want the fermentation to start quickly. Reducing the lag time does have an impact on the beer.

I mean you need the correct amount of yeast pitched at the correct temperature. A rocketing start is not an end unto itself. To think of an extreme example, what if one was to rack a a potential lager onto a large lager yeast cake at room temperature. It would be a fast start and a horrible fermentation. A short lag time is very desirable, but it isn't the most important thing.

What I do is put the starter in the fridge the night before brewing, then the day of I get it out and let it warm to room temperature. The yeast cake will be intact on the bottom and you will not lose any yeasties. I believe it is important to pitch the yeast at the correct temp not only of the wort but also of the yeast. Don't piss the yeast off!!

That it probably best, shertz. I figure if I am just pitching yeast, it will warm up in the carboy to the correct temperature fast anyway. That being said, 90% I am using liquid yeast, it's for a lager and I pitch just under my fermentation temperature anyway.

shertz said:

What I do is put the starter in the fridge the night before brewing, then the day of I get it out and let it warm to room temperature. The yeast cake will be intact on the bottom and you will not lose any yeasties. I believe it is important to pitch the yeast at the correct temp not only of the wort but also of the yeast. Don't piss the yeast off!!

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+1....... If you plan in advance, you can crash cool for 1-2 days depending on yeast strain and then just remove from the fridge morning of brew day. By the time you are ready to pitch, the cake will be fully in tact and you can still decant off most of the extra beer and pitch yeast same temp as chilled wort. I have also had to pitch high krausen and had good results that way too, but with a bigger starter you have to account for the extra liquid.

Eastside

Padstack31 said:

What do you mean by this? You want the fermentation to start quickly. Reducing the lag time does have an impact on the beer.

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Jamil says that a slower start allows the yeast to create more of a flavor profile than an immediate start. An immediate start may have a negative impact on the intended flavor.

If there is only one thing I've learned since I started brewing it is this: I should pitch the right amount of yeast into wort at the right temperature and keep that wort at the right temperature until it is beer. Lag time is a secondary concern. If I keep clean, the lag should not be crucial.

Tech211 said:

If there is only one thing I've learned since I started brewing it is this: I should pitch the right amount of yeast into wort at the right temperature and keep that wort at the right temperature until it is beer. Lag time is a secondary concern. If I keep clean, the lag should not be crucial.

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Agreed. But if you did your starter correctly, it should take off within 8 hours. If not, either your yeast had issues or something happened with your starter. I have never had to wait long for fermentation to begin since I started using starters. This last one was the longest, about 8 hours...it was a lager.