Do you oxygenate your starters?

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Do you oxygenate (w/aeration stone or wand+pure 02) your STARTER and your wort ?

  • Both

  • Wort only


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Drk93TT

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Just a quick question as I don't see a similar topic on here searching.

I aerate my wort with a oxygenation wand and 02 before pitching my starter into it ....

The question is does anyone have better results oxygenating the yeast starter itself?

i.e. this process :

1 Make yeast starter
* 2 Oxygenate yeast starter with 02 for a few seconds *
3 Sit on stir plate for 24-48hrs
4 Decant/or pitch entire starter into wort
5 Aerate wort/yeast in carboy with 02

And yes I understand that the stir plate continuously aerates the starter :)
 
Personally, I think it would be a waste of time to use O2 in a starter for obvious reasons.
 
Neither.....
I use an air pump for my wort. I don't worry about the starter since the stirbar is oxygenating the entire time......

I also run my starters for only 18-24 hours. After that the yeast are (usually) no longer reproducing and only fermenting the starter wort.
 
Neither.....
I use an air pump for my wort. I don't worry about the starter since the stirbar is oxygenating the entire time......

I also run my starters for only 18-24 hours. After that the yeast are (usually) no longer reproducing and only fermenting the starter wort.

Right-o
Yeah I run my lager yeasts for 48hrs (then rest overnight to decant) and my ale yeasts usually 16-24hrs
 
I put my starters back on the stir plate to loosen the cake up after I've decanted. This has the same effect.
 
I've never oxygenated a starter. Lately I have been putting starters on the stir plate for 12-16 hours and then pitching the whole thing when the wort is the right temp. No decanting, incanting, tincanting, incarnating, etc, etc. I generally see activity within three hours.
 
Like others have mentioned, no need to oxygenate starter with stone/pump. The motion of the stir plate injects plenty of O2 into the starter. I run for 48 hours, chill, decant, pitch.
 
Like others have mentioned, no need to oxygenate starter with stone/pump. The motion of the stir plate injects plenty of O2 into the starter. I run for 48 hours, chill, decant, pitch.

That's how I do it too. But now I just started using the stir plate after decanting a few hours before pitching.
 
Like others have mentioned, no need to oxygenate starter with stone/pump. The motion of the stir plate injects plenty of O2 into the starter. I run for 48 hours, chill, decant, pitch.

IIRC, studies have shown that doesn't happen very much at all.
 
Used to just oxygenate the wort, but a beer club Q & A with the head of the lab @ Fat Heads got me doing both starter & wort.
 
IIRC, studies have shown that doesn't happen very much at all.

Really? That would mean a number of Yeast Guys are wrong when they state cell count increases are oxygen-dependent and that a stir plate provides greater cell count increases than a static environment.

I think I'll stick with the Yeast Guys...although I do give the starter a liter or so of pure O2 before putting it on the plate...

Cheers!
 
I've done this but not on big beers. What's the biggest (OG) you have successfully used this in?

Based on reading tha,t before my last brew, I stepped up my yeast as usual. Then after transferring to the conicals I pulled 1.5 liter of wort and put it on my yeast cake I'm he flask. Spun it for a couple hours before pitching. The beer came out just as it should. I didn't have to mess with the O2.
 
Really? That would mean a number of Yeast Guys are wrong when they state cell count increases are oxygen-dependent and that a stir plate provides greater cell count increases than a static environment.

I think I'll stick with the Yeast Guys...although I do give the starter a liter or so of pure O2 before putting it on the plate...

Cheers!

The reason you get increased cell count is because fo the constant contact with "food" not the O2. There are people who even oxygenate the starter on the stir plate. If the Yeast Guys do a DO reading, they'd find almost no difference between a stirred starter and an unstirred one.

I used a stir plate for years and I've stopped using it for maybe the last 9-12 months. I get performance as good or better than using a stir plate with less hassle. Keep in mind that none of the yeast companies use stir plates to propagate yeast.
 
The reason you get increased cell count is because fo the constant contact with "food" not the O2. There are people who even oxygenate the starter on the stir plate. If the Yeast Guys do a DO reading, they'd find almost no difference between a stirred starter and an unstirred one.

I used a stir plate for years and I've stopped using it for maybe the last 9-12 months. I get performance as good or better than using a stir plate with less hassle. Keep in mind that none of the yeast companies use stir plates to propagate yeast.


Good point. But if you go to brewunited, they give you the option of manually shaking, no stirring and using a stir plate. The stir plate yields 2-3 times more yeast in the results.
 
The reason you get increased cell count is because fo the constant contact with "food" not the O2. [...]

Again, really?

How do those poor yeast that apparently can't motivate themselves manage to consume the contents of thousand gallon fermentors without agitation?

Cheers! (It boggles the mind...;))
 
Good point. But if you go to brewunited, they give you the option of manually shaking, no stirring and using a stir plate. The stir plate yields 2-3 times more yeast in the results.

Assuming the formulae they use are correct. I assure you they didn't come up with those themselves. They simply extrapolated from material already out there that may or may not be accurate. And at any rate, there is no evidence that the increased is becasue of oxygenation. Finally, I really don't care about cell counts...I care about performance. And using the "shaken not stirred" method has given me performance at least as good as a stir plate, without having to crash and decant. Had I not tried and compared both methods, I wouldn't have believed it either.
 
Assuming the formulae they use are correct. I assure you they didn't come up with those themselves. They simply extrapolated from material already out there that may or may not be accurate. And at any rate, there is no evidence that the increased is becasue of oxygenation. Finally, I really don't care about cell counts...I care about performance. And using the "shaken not stirred" method has given me performance at least as good as a stir plate, without having to crash and decant. Had I not tried and compared both methods, I wouldn't have believed it either.

I read the xbeeriment on vitality, more important than cell count. I have tried it before too but I tend to make big beers and do not feel safe with those. Whats the biggest beer you have used this method with? do you make a large starter (ie 2L) or just a 500mL one like the brulosophy guys do?

Thanks.
 
Yes, I oxygenate the starter. You make a starter to wake up the yeast and create some cells as well. Makes sense to add some O2, either by shaking or by injecting. By injecting I do not need to shake which means less to sanitize or risk of contamination. Works better than in the wort as the amount of liquid is far lower so the yeast get the O2 impact in spades.
 
I use the 'shaken not stirred' method of starter agitation mostly because I never have been able to get my homemade stirplate to work properly. But I don't oxygenate the starter. I do however add 1 drop of olive oil to my starters. It was all the rage a few years back, has probably been shown to not make a difference, but the theory is sound, so I do it. Because, why not?
 
I read the xbeeriment on vitality, more important than cell count. I have tried it before too but I tend to make big beers and do not feel safe with those. Whats the biggest beer you have used this method with? do you make a large starter (ie 2L) or just a 500mL one like the brulosophy guys do?

Thanks.

I use the 1L. "shaken not stirred" method from the AHA forum. I have used it on beers up to 1.078 so far. I also use the same size and method for making lager starters with great success.
 
I use the 'shaken not stirred' method of starter agitation mostly because I never have been able to get my homemade stirplate to work properly. But I don't oxygenate the starter. I do however add 1 drop of olive oil to my starters. It was all the rage a few years back, has probably been shown to not make a difference, but the theory is sound, so I do it. Because, why not?

We did an olive oil experiment for the Experimental Brewing podcast and it had the most definitive results yet. Doing no aeration and adding olive oil produced exactly the same results.
 
Yes I oxygenate my starters. I add oxygen to them using a stir plate. Otherwise I would pitch yeast into a jar and let it sit on the counter like I did in old days. I don't do vitality starters because I over build and harvest from starters for future batches because it's easier than harvesting post-fermentation.
I oxygenate my wort using a drill and mixer.
 

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