stir plate starters

[Edbert]

I usually pitch my entire starter of 600 to 800 ml since I usually make VERY high OG, if I am making mediums I just skip starters. I only mention that to say I do not decant.

So if I decide to use a stir plate on slow do I reduce the time from 2 or 3 days to 1 or 2?

 

[Gear101]

Are you saying that you just got a new stir plate?

 

[Edbert]

Are you saying that you just got a new stir plate?

Yes, but the question is...how does that alter the time from boiling the DME to pitching into the 5 gallons, or does it at all.
?

 

[flars]

You will find your answer in the Yeastcalc site. Look under the tab on the left; The Care and Feeding of Your Yeast.
http://yeastcalc.com/

 

[kblankenship11]

Yes, but the question is...how does that alter the time from boiling the DME to pitching into the 5 gallons, or does it at all.
?

It would certainly shorten it if you have normally just let the starter sit or intermittently shake it. I believe the general rule of thumb for stir-plate starters is 24-48 hours.

Yeast is a living organism so I don't just follow a stopwatch to tell when it's ready. I'll look at what's happening in my starter vessel and when it's a thick milky yellow with loads of bubbles happening I know its at it's most active state. It would be ideal to take it off at this point and let it sit for an hour or two to settle, decant then pitch.

Perfectly timing your brew day with high-kreusen is tough so I generally do my starter two nights before my brew day so it's got around 36 hours to do it's thing plus some settling time before I pitch. Pay attention to the activity in your starter and with experience you'll just know when to start it.

 

[sweetcell]

with a stir plate is pretty obvious when the starter is done. when it's active, there are a ton of bubbles being generated. when it's completed the bubbles are gone. so i don't go by a set amount of time, i go by appearance: have the yeast finished fermenting or not? that said, i've never had a starter go longer than 48 hours on my stir plate.

you should consider decanting the starter, after a cold crash. that starter beer is highly oxidized, no need to add that to your precious batch of beer.

you pretty much need a starter for any beer, not just the VERY high OG ones, if you want to make the best beer. the ideal pitch for 5.25 gallons of 1.050 wort should is two packs - if the packs are a day old. age them a month and a half and you should pitch 3 packs. yes, you'll make beer with a smaller pitch but it probably isn't the best beer you could be making.

http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html is another great resource.

 

[Edbert]

Thanks for all the replies.

I've been making beer for a while and slowly adding more complexity to the methods. I was under the impression that a starter was for heavy gravity wort or to jump start a slow strain. I've made OG batches well over 1.040 without a starter that had no trouble getting started.

Only been doing starters for about 6 batches with the shake periodically method just learning as I go with advice from the pros.

 

[Gear101]

Thanks for all the replies.

I've been making beer for a while and slowly adding more complexity to the methods. I was under the impression that a starter was for heavy gravity wort or to jump start a slow strain. I've made OG batches well over 1.040 without a starter that had no trouble getting started.

Only been doing starters for about 6 batches with the shake periodically method just learning as I go with advice from the pros.

Ya I started out the same way, shaking a starter gets old, all you need to do is keep it moving a little bit. Normally what I do is set it fast enough to prevent a cake from developing. CHEERS and happy brewing.