Need help with starter!

[miafunk2003]

Ok so ive read and read and read HBT, Mr. Malty and so on....i guess im simple minded but for the life of me i dont get this 1L starter has ...billion cells and if you step it up to 4L it goes to so and so....so can someone please simplify this...if i have a gravity of 1.060 what size starter do i need and how do i get ther straight shot or stepped and how much water and DME do i need? And if its over 1.061 how big should the starter be and how to step it with how much dme and how much water at each step?!? Im sorry to ask specifics but i keep reading and reading and reading and im just getting more confused ,..... Thank you!!!!

 

[MalFet]

A good rule of thumb for your desired cell count in an ale is:
1 million cells, per degree plato, per mL of wort. For lagers, bump that up by 25%; for ales, bump it down by 25%.

That means 1.25 million cells for lagers, and 0.75 million cells for ales. Plato, for all practical purposes, is just your gravity divided by 4. A standard 5gal batch is roughly 20,000 mL.

So, to figure out your desired pitching rate for an ale, take your gravity (the part after the 1.0), divide it by 4, and then multiply by 15 billion. So a 1.060 ale would be 15 * 15 billion, or 225 billion.

If you are starting with a 100 billion cell smack pack or vial, you will get something approximating the following total cell counts from your starters (according to Chris White's book):
1L - 152 billion
1.5L - 181 billion
2L - 205 billion
4L - 276 billion

Stepped starters get a bit more complicated, but I've always found the wyeast calculator to be a bit more intuitive than Mr. Malty.

Your starters should be around 1.040 gravity, which you can get by adding 100g of DME per 1L of water.

 

[PurpleJeepXJ]

Well the whole point of a starter is to get a jump start on fermentation by allowing the yeast to reproduce to a larger number before pitching in the fermenter. I have only ever made 1qt or 1L starters with a half pound of DME and yeast for any brew I do and most of my brews have OGs of around 1.060. If you make too small of a starter then the simplicity to it is fermentation could take a little longer with an addition of a little more yeast flavour. Too big of one and a little less yeast flavour and a quicker fermentation. At least this is what I have always followed and heard. Hope it helps.

 

[miafunk2003]

So a lager or something like a 1.090 should take 2 4l starter ?

 

[MalFet]

So a lager or something like a 1.090 should take 2 4l starter ?

Or more likely a stepped starter. But yes, something on the order of 550B cells would be a pretty standard pitching rate for 5 gallons of big lager.

 

[miafunk2003]

So I would first take 4l of water add 400g of dme boil, pitch, wait till it ferment , cool , decant, add 4 more liters of water with 400g of dme ?

 

[MalFet]

So I would first take 4l of water add 400g of dme boil, pitch, wait till it ferment , cool , decant, add 4 more liters of water with 400g of dme ?

No, a stepped starter isn't just linear addition like that. Check out the wyeast calculator. It uses slightly different numbers than the yeast book, but it is relatively easy to use.

If you have a stir plate, I would do a 1L starter, decant, and then add 3L more wort to get a good pitching rate for 5gal of 1.090 lager.

 

[miafunk2003]

and for a 1.060 2L is enough?

 

[MalFet]

and for a 1.060 2L is enough?

Yep.