When people say "1L starter" what the hell are they talking about? I have a stir plate and a 1Lflask. I wish I had a bigger flask but I don't.
When I read "how to make a starter" threads or the Wiki I feel like I have always been told to use 2 cups of water with 1/2 a cup of DME. That's like a 300ml starter.
When I go to yeastcalc, I am asked for my "starter volume" (mr. malty just says I need a 1 L starter, usually). What does that mean? There's the stepping option on yeastcalc, which makes sense, but I don't understand how "big" my starter needs to be. I just feel like the calculators are nice and all, but they don't complete the circle and actually tell yo uhow to do it. For example yeastcalc says mix the "appropriate" amount of water and DME...why would tat be a user-defined value?
I guess what I'm asking, is given my equipment, let's say I want to make a starter for a 1.6 or so 5.25G ale. I'll use yeastcalc, I guess I can step it, but I haven't really been able to determine what "size" I need to start with that won't hurt the yeast. If I need to step it, I will, I just don't see any direction. What am I missing?
When I read "how to make a starter" threads or the Wiki I feel like I have always been told to use 2 cups of water with 1/2 a cup of DME. That's like a 300ml starter.
When I go to yeastcalc, I am asked for my "starter volume" (mr. malty just says I need a 1 L starter, usually). What does that mean? There's the stepping option on yeastcalc, which makes sense, but I don't understand how "big" my starter needs to be. I just feel like the calculators are nice and all, but they don't complete the circle and actually tell yo uhow to do it. For example yeastcalc says mix the "appropriate" amount of water and DME...why would tat be a user-defined value?
I guess what I'm asking, is given my equipment, let's say I want to make a starter for a 1.6 or so 5.25G ale. I'll use yeastcalc, I guess I can step it, but I haven't really been able to determine what "size" I need to start with that won't hurt the yeast. If I need to step it, I will, I just don't see any direction. What am I missing?