Craiginthecorn
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The idea behind vitality starters is to move your yeast through the lag phase in optimum condition by creating a starter and placing it on a stir plate for about 4 hours. This provides an ideal environment for synthesis of sterols and unsaturated fatty acids that are necessary growth factors needed in the log phase where the yeast cells multiply. After the lag phase, yeast grow anaerobically, so no further oxygenation of the wort will be required.
I tried this yesterday for the first time for a 1.082 og stout. I decanted a starter with Denny's Favorite 1450 which I had made earlier in the week using the conventional stir plate method. This was added to 1 liter of 1.040 wort and spun on a stir plate for 4 hours prior to pitching.
My airlock was bubbling away in literally a couple hours. That part was great. I also love the idea of not having to oxygenate my wort. A minor negative was that I failed to plan for the few gravity points I'd lose adding 1 liter of 1.040 wort to 13 liters of 1.082 wort. This experience has prompted a few questions...
1- How large does a vitality starter need to be?
Since the idea of a vitality starter is to simply get the yeast cells pumped with sterols and unsaturated fatty acids prior to pitching, it seems to me that a small quantity of wort with a dab of yeast nutrient would do the trick. There's plenty of unfermented sugars left at the end of this process and unlimited oxygen, so can't this starter be much smaller? Say half the normal size? One quarter? This is significant, since you cannot really decant vitality starters and thus pitch the entire vitality starter into your wort.
2 - Can the gravity of the vitality starter be something significantly higher than 1.040?
Typically, starters are made in 1.030-1.040 wort to avoid stressing the yeast. In this case, I had 2x the gravity in my wort, so using a 1.040 vitality starter diluted it. As long as I'm not planning to reuse yeast from this starter for future brews, does that matter of my starter is higher gravity, as long as I'm pitching a sufficient quantity of yeast? I would think so.
3 - Wouldn't it make the most sense to pull off a liter of finished and cooled wort for my vitality starter, regardless of the SG?
This avoids the added step of making and chilling another batch of starter wort as well as dilution of your carefully crafted wort with a simple, unflavored DME wort. Yes, it would mean four hours during which some opportunistic microbe might try to infect my beer, but this seems to me to strike a good balance between simplicity, effectiveness, and risk. In this case, my beer would still have shown airlock activity within 6 or 7 hours.
I tried this yesterday for the first time for a 1.082 og stout. I decanted a starter with Denny's Favorite 1450 which I had made earlier in the week using the conventional stir plate method. This was added to 1 liter of 1.040 wort and spun on a stir plate for 4 hours prior to pitching.
My airlock was bubbling away in literally a couple hours. That part was great. I also love the idea of not having to oxygenate my wort. A minor negative was that I failed to plan for the few gravity points I'd lose adding 1 liter of 1.040 wort to 13 liters of 1.082 wort. This experience has prompted a few questions...
1- How large does a vitality starter need to be?
Since the idea of a vitality starter is to simply get the yeast cells pumped with sterols and unsaturated fatty acids prior to pitching, it seems to me that a small quantity of wort with a dab of yeast nutrient would do the trick. There's plenty of unfermented sugars left at the end of this process and unlimited oxygen, so can't this starter be much smaller? Say half the normal size? One quarter? This is significant, since you cannot really decant vitality starters and thus pitch the entire vitality starter into your wort.
2 - Can the gravity of the vitality starter be something significantly higher than 1.040?
Typically, starters are made in 1.030-1.040 wort to avoid stressing the yeast. In this case, I had 2x the gravity in my wort, so using a 1.040 vitality starter diluted it. As long as I'm not planning to reuse yeast from this starter for future brews, does that matter of my starter is higher gravity, as long as I'm pitching a sufficient quantity of yeast? I would think so.
3 - Wouldn't it make the most sense to pull off a liter of finished and cooled wort for my vitality starter, regardless of the SG?
This avoids the added step of making and chilling another batch of starter wort as well as dilution of your carefully crafted wort with a simple, unflavored DME wort. Yes, it would mean four hours during which some opportunistic microbe might try to infect my beer, but this seems to me to strike a good balance between simplicity, effectiveness, and risk. In this case, my beer would still have shown airlock activity within 6 or 7 hours.