Fundamental shift in yeast starter preparation?

[Spivey24]

Wow, I just had one of the fastest ferments ever, and with liquid kolsch ale yeast that’s been sitting in the fridge for at least six months. I am down 42 points in 3 days and just a few points to go.
I usually do 5L starters at 1.028 for a 10 gallon batch starting with a single pitch. I use a stir plate with a 5L flask and leave it in the basement which runs about 66 degrees. I leave it for around 36 hours on the plate then cold crash then decant. Then I split it 3 ways, pitch 2 and save 1.
This time I did the same 5L starter at 1.028, but had a ferment freezer free, so I set up a heater in it on the Inkbird controller and spun it for 24 hours at 78 degrees. Then instead of cold crashing it all, i let it settle for an hour, poured off the liquid into mason jars, and pitched the settled yeast immediately. I took the mason jars, cold crashed them, then decanted and pitched them too the next day.
I know it’s not a fair apples to apples test because I ended up pitching it all instead of saving a third, but still crazy fast results. I always had this notion that doing a starter that warm would breed “spoiled” yeast that wouldn’t want to work at colder temps. I guess it’s still to be seen how the beer tastes.
And the Altbier was fermented at 66 and maintained that temp according to the tilts.

 

[Schlenkerla]

Thanks for sharing. It is all about getting the little yeast cells to do what we want. Makes complete sense that a low gravity wort allows them to work through easier when their numbers are lower. Basic physical exhaustion.

Yeah. Avoiding the Crabtree Effect and preventing it from switching over to anaerobic fermentation. Let it do the saturated fatty acid and sterol work thats needed for full blown anaerobic fermentation. (That negative ORP stuff I talked about in the past.)

 

[Schlenkerla]

Wow, I just had one of the fastest ferments ever, and with liquid kolsch ale yeast that’s been sitting in the fridge for at least six months. I am down 42 points in 3 days and just a few points to go.
I usually do 5L starters at 1.028 for a 10 gallon batch starting with a single pitch. I use a stir plate with a 5L flask and leave it in the basement which runs about 66 degrees. I leave it for around 36 hours on the plate then cold crash then decant. Then I split it 3 ways, pitch 2 and save 1.
This time I did the same 5L starter at 1.028, but had a ferment freezer free, so I set up a heater in it on the Inkbird controller and spun it for 24 hours at 78 degrees. Then instead of cold crashing it all, i let it settle for an hour, poured off the liquid into mason jars, and pitched the settled yeast immediately. I took the mason jars, cold crashed them, then decanted and pitched them too the next day.
I know it’s not a fair apples to apples test because I ended up pitching it all instead of saving a third, but still crazy fast results. I always had this notion that doing a starter that warm would breed “spoiled” yeast that wouldn’t want to work at colder temps. I guess it’s still to be seen how the beer tastes.
And the Altbier was fermented at 66 and maintained that temp according to the tilts.

I read the optimum temperature for yeast to propagate at is 78F (25C) for lagers and 86F (30C) for ale. Combine it with larger starter size, higher temps, and lower sugar content made it biased for biomass growth over alcohol production. Basically you pitched more cells.

 

[Red over White]

I read the optimum temperature for yeast to propagate at is 78F (25C) for lagers and 86F (30C) for ale. Combine it with larger starter size, higher temps, and lower sugar content made it biased for biomass growth over alcohol production. Basically you pitched more cells.

I 100% agree with that when you know your yeast. If a vitality starter does the same thing, do that instead at lower temps. Pick your pitch rate style based on known gravity, temperature and wort composition. I want some growth in the fermenter at low temps before it spirals upwards... pitching hard on the bubble, temp wise isn't my jam and is unpredictable. I want the simple sugar uptake and ester production to be controlled, ale or lager, even when pressure reduces the temperature the yeast ultimately experiences.