Pouring on top of yeast starter?

[japa2121]

This weekend I plan on doing northern brewer witbier extract kit on saturday and their kama citra extract kit on sunday. I purchased liquid yeast packs both with a date of 10-5-15 printed on them (WLP051 for the Kama and Wyeast 1056 for the witbier, im going for a blue moon clone and not a traditional wit). I have never made a yeast starter before and was wondering if i could just make two 3 liter starters in my two primaries and pour the wort from the kits on top of them? I only have two primaries and have no glassware to make a starter in. I do have some large protein jugs i could wash out. I got the 3 liter starter size from the brewers friend calculator. I also have a few packs of S-05 i could pitch with the liquid... Any advice on pouring on top of yeast starters?

 

[rlmiller10]

This weekend I plan on doing northern brewer witbier extract kit on saturday and their kama citra extract kit on sunday. I purchased liquid yeast packs both with a date of 10-5-15 printed on them (WLP051 for the Kama and Wyeast 1056 for the witbier, im going for a blue moon clone and not a traditional wit). I have never made a yeast starter before and was wondering if i could just make two 3 liter starters in my two primaries and pour the wort from the kits on top of them? I only have two primaries and have no glassware to make a starter in. I do have some large protein jugs i could wash out. I got the 3 liter starter size from the brewers friend calculator. I also have a few packs of S-05 i could pitch with the liquid... Any advice on pouring on top of yeast starters?

First NO. Starters are oxidized and non-temp controlled beers so they have off flavors. So you don't want to add three qts of off flavor beer to your good beer.

You could mix, the S-05 and your other but that defeats the purpose of selecting the right yeast for the job.

Do you have a place to cold crash your primaries? If so one option is to brew your starter in the primary, crash it, dump off the "beer" leaving the yeast in the bottom and then add your fresh wort to that.

The protein jugs would also work and be easier to put in a fridge to crash to allow pouring off the starter beer before putting the yeast in the fresh wort.

But don't add three liters of starter beer to your good beer.

 

[japa2121]

I think ill try the protein jug in the fridge and pour off the 'beer'. would i just scoop the yeast out with a spoon or something?

 

[jpakstis]

I think ill try the protein jug in the fridge and pour off the 'beer'. would i just scoop the yeast out with a spoon or something?

If you give enough time (24 hours or so), the yeast will settle to the bottom during the cold crash and then you can just carefully pour out the starter wort, leaving the yeast at the bottom.

 

[Roadie]

I think ill try the protein jug in the fridge and pour off the 'beer'. would i just scoop the yeast out with a spoon or something?

You decant most of the starter "beer" but leave a little so you can swirl to get the yeast in suspension again and then you simply pour into the carboy.

 

[QuadConPana]

Starters are oxidized...

OOO
MMM
GGG

That's why I love this site.

WHY THE F*** DIDN'T I REALIZE THAT.

I've only done a couple of batches since building my stir plate, but I have been taking the yeast right off of the plate and into the wort instead of chilling and pouring off the beer, so it would be super active.

Thanks for pointing out my stupidity.

 

[k1ngl1ves]

OOO
MMM
GGG

That's why I love this site.

WHY THE F*** DIDN'T I REALIZE THAT.

I've only done a couple of batches since building my stir plate, but I have been taking the yeast right off of the plate and into the wort instead of chilling and pouring off the beer, so it would be super active.

Thanks for pointing out my stupidity.

Um... What?!!!

The starter will be oxygenated. The wort you're using should be oxygenated. This will all blend together well. Lol! There is no fear of your finished beer being oxidized. The yeast will take care of all this for you. They'll make good use of it. Relax. You're not pitching a 1g starter into 5 gallons!


The reason to decant is to remove the used liquids, so there's no off flavors. It's not always necessary either. Standard starter size shouldn't be large enough to mess with flavors in a 5g batch or larger. If you do smaller batches, then I'd definitely decant. I usually throw in the whole thing for 5g-10g batches, unless I'm doing a step starter... then decanting is necessary. Now if you go super Old School and hop your starter, then yeah. It'll mess with your beer. Thank God people don't do that anymore! Yet another example of an old wives tale...


If you don't have containers for your starters, just find something with a flat bottom. 1/2 gallon milk jugs come to mind. Sanitize and go! Be weary of those online calculators too. 3 liters seems huge imo. That's probably bad advice. If your OG's are both under 80, just make 1600ml starters. That should be just fine. Those calculators (and many people here) are crazy about starter sizes! Don't fall into the trap. You'd be surprised what yeast can do when given the opportunity! Many people just go with gospel, and refuse to see different lights.


Good luck, and always second guess advice on the internets. Unless it's from Yooper... then be quiet and do what she says! Lol!

 

[m00ps]

I routinely decant and add mroe starter wort on top of my starters to build them up a bit more before pitching. I dont cold crash them though, I just let them settle for 24hrs. I did 2 last night

I use growlers and larger beer bottles as small starter vessels. Im basically playing musical chairs every week with moving my yeasts around