Stepping up a starter.

Can a starter be stepped up in the same 2L flask? Or do you have to move to a larger volume flask? I am trying to grasp the starter step up concept and I am hoping there are easier ways than moving up to a 4L flask.

 

Only so much sugar per volume. 2 L fed new worth will have enough wort for 2L worth of yeast. You need room for them to grow.

 

Yes. Chill the first starter step in the fridge for a day or so. Then decant the beer on top and keep the white yeast on the bottom. Make some more starter wort, cool, and then add to the flask with the yeast.

EDIT: It depends on the size of the first starter. If you did a 1.5L starter and then another 1.5L starter you will not get as much growth in the second starter as the first. Play around with the yeast tool on yeastcalc.com to better understand this.

 

To combine what the first two posters say: You can step up in a 2L flask, but stepping up a 2L starter by decanting and adding 2L more wort isn't going to get you significant cell growth - so it's kind of pointless.

If you want to step up and stick to a 2L flask, start with a 1L starter then decant as the above post says and add 2L of fresh wort. You'll end up with more cells than just doing a 2L starter by itself - but still not as good as stepping up to a 4L starter or something similar.

 

Well said. I sounded confused and spell check keeps changing wort to worth. Grrr!!

 

I probably shouldn't be offering advice on this since I have only tried it once but... I will anyway:cross: I needed enough yeast for two 5 gal batches (cause I brew 10 gallons at a time) but I only had 1 smack pack. I made a 2L starter, fermented it for 12 hours or so on a stir plate, chilled it, poured off most of the beer then stirred the yeast up well. I then took half of the well stirred liquid and added it to another flask with 1.5L of wort. Later I repeated with the other half. when all was said and done I had a lot of yeast and it wasn't too hard.

 

I suppose I will just pitch 2 packets/tubes of yeast and use the 2L flasks. Just seeing if I can save a little money on my batches being that yeast is so darn expensive. This is all information I need for when I start doing lagers and stronger ABV ales. Thanks for all the replies.

 

Now to find an Erlynmeyer that isn't an absolute piece of crap..

 

Oh wait..... I just found Yeast Calc. I see now what I was missing. For a 1.044 lager I can do a 1 liter starter than chill decant. Then make a 1.5L starter with the newly propagated yeast and I will have more than enough yeast. I heard Jamil say you really can't overpitch a lager.

 

I've used 2l bottles to make a starter and always have lots of those around. But I then found the perfect starter vessel, my Mr Beer. It has a flat bottom, a spigot, a lid with vents and lots of room to shake.

 

why not pitch 1 tub/packet into a 2L container and let them multiply?

 

Yeah that's what I was saying. It worked fine.

 

I usually pitch older vials into a 1L then move it to a 2L. Dump some into a 500ml for future reuse. Use the 1.5L in current batch, wash current batch yeast, and reuse a few times. After a few times, I go back to the 500ml save and move it to a 1L and then a 2L. Repeat.

 

I was giving my volumes based on the piching calculator Yeast Calc.com. It was saying a 2L starter alone was not enough for my theoretical lager. Doing a 1 liter starter than stepping up to 1.5 would get me enough yeast. This was of course just what the calculator was telling me.

http://yeastcalc.com/