BIG starters

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

I do not make starters... yet. But I will be soon and am looking into it closely now. After reviewing Mr. Malty's calculator for pitching rates and starters, I realized If I want to do a high gravity brew I may need a large starter volume.

For those of you doing 10+ gallon batches, do you get by with a 2000mL Erlenmeyer, or do you have something bigger?

My other thought was if I need a 4L starter (hypothetical), can I do a regular 2L starter, flocculate the yeast, decant the spent beer, and add a new 2L wort on top? Does this equal a 4L starter?

I am just curious because I think when I build my stir plate, if I need to accomodate a 4L vessel, I will need to make some power adjustments .

Thanks for the help and guidance!

 

[SuperiorBrew]

10 gallon lagers or big beers usually wind up being 4L
I picked up a 5L on ebay cheap

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

WOW! That is one impressive starter! :rockin:

That's what I was thinking about. I see your stir plate is "Heavy Duty", and it is still barely forming a cone in that behemoth. Looks like I will be waiting to purchase a similar heavy duty stir plate instead of DIYing one that will not meet all my needs. Thanks for the reply!

 

[SuperiorBrew]

Watch eBay, I picked up that stirplate for $35.

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

OK... I am planning an O-fest beer for the fall and just checked Mr. Malty's calculator... For 11 gallons of 1.060 lager, at the standard growth settings, the recommended starter (with stir plate) is 4 yeast packs and an 4 liter starter!

Do you guys actually do this? I mean, according to this calculator this starter is going to cost ~$30!

I am interested to hear what most of you do and how big of starters you use. Please indicate size of batch, size of starter, number of packs used.