100% Brett Starters Estimation

[ShemRahBoo]

I've got a question that's driving me nuts. I'm prepping to step up some white labs brett C for a 100% primary fermentation. The part that is driving me nuts is determining my starter sizes and estimating the amount of cells. I like to use yeastcalculator.com. So for this I need to go from 3B cells in WL vial to 200B for my fermentation.

If I step up to .5L let ferment out then step up to 1L im trying to estimate how many cells I'd have.

I am using a stir plate but the discrepancies in the two models leave me confused. The difference in the first step alone is 24B / 72B. Either have over 200B or 105B in the end.

I know I'll never have the cell count accurate but which model would you use for accuracy on this? Is there a better one to use for going from a small count from WL brett vials to a large in this case? The difference in growth in that first step is huge, is there an upper limit to growth Jamil takes into account that the Kai model does not?

 

[m00ps]

I dont deal in cell counts, but ive made a few all-brett beers and usually use 2x the yeast (going by starter volume) than I do for regular beers and I start them a week ahead of time, stepping up until day 5, then let it sit undisturbed till brewday so I get a good yeast layer at the bottom. Brett is a poor flocculator IME

 

[kaz4121]

I have used the Kai estimate for 100% Brett and had good success. I previously had just used lager numbers but recently read that Chad recommended using at least 2 million cells/ml wort/degree Plato (double the ale yeast estimate).

One thing I would recommend is letting your Brett starters go for 7 days before stepping up since it takes a while to get kicked into gear.

edit: this thread has some good recommendations https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=134951