2L starter timing

[ebaynote]

If I make a two liter starter for a 1.066
OG beer on Wednesday pm will it ferment out by Friday pm so I can then chill it till Saturday afternoon when I pitch? 1056 yeast. Thanks in advance.

 

[blkandrust]

should be good to go..

 

[JoMarky]

If I make a two liter starter for a 1.066
OG beer on Wednesday pm will it ferment out by Friday pm so I can then chill it till Saturday afternoon when I pitch? 1056 yeast. Thanks in advance.

That should work fine.

 

[MattHollingsworth]

Yup. My regular schedule is to make starters on Wednesday then pop them in the fridge on Friday, though I let it sit until Sunday. It'll be fine for Saturday though.

 

[Frank99]

If you're going to decant the starter, then your timing sounds fine. However, I believe conventional wisdom at this point is to pitch at high krausen (the entire starter) for a healthier and faster start. Jamil talks about this on BN on his fermentation episode.

 

[MattHollingsworth]

If you're going to decant the starter, then your timing sounds fine. However, I believe conventional wisdom at this point is to pitch at high krausen (the entire starter) for a healthier and faster start. Jamil talks about this on BN on his fermentation episode.

In my experience, this is incorrect. I decant and pitch and always have fermentation start within 3-6 hours, followed by healthy a fermentation.

 

[strat_thru_marshall]

In my experience, this is incorrect. I decant and pitch and always have fermentation start within 3-6 hours, followed by healthy a fermentation.

Same here.

If you let your starter go for 12-18 hours, you can pretty much throw it in the fridge to crash the yeast. They might not be completely done fermenting the starter wort, but they WILL be completely done with their growth cycle. Leaving them out extra time wont get you any more yeast at that point, just finished beer instead of starter wort.

Make starter wed, throw in fridge friday morning, decant and pitch after 24 hours of cold crash. Should be good to go.

 

[winvarin]

Still working on my starter methods so I have a question or 2 to add on to this. I just recently bought a 2L flask. I have a stir plate and an oxygenation setup as well.

Question 1- If I oxygenate the starter and put it on the stir plate, does this accelerate the time table at all? (i.e., should I plan on making the starter Thursday and cold crashing Friday for a Saturday brewday?)

Question 2 - Big starters are still a bit intimidating. I like the idea of cold crashing then decanting to get rid of the unnecessary wort (even at the expense of some yeast cells). However, what about stepping up? Would you pitch a vial into a 2L starter medium and just let them grow from there? Or would you step up? 750 ml or a liter first. Then onto the 2L?

 

[MattHollingsworth]

Still working on my starter methods so I have a question or 2 to add on to this. I just recently bought a 2L flask. I have a stir plate and an oxygenation setup as well.

Question 1- If I oxygenate the starter and put it on the stir plate, does this accelerate the time table at all? (i.e., should I plan on making the starter Thursday and cold crashing Friday for a Saturday brewday?)

Question 2 - Big starters are still a bit intimidating. I like the idea of cold crashing then decanting to get rid of the unnecessary wort (even at the expense of some yeast cells). However, what about stepping up? Would you pitch a vial into a 2L starter medium and just let them grow from there? Or would you step up? 750 ml or a liter first. Then onto the 2L?

I use pure O2 and a stirplate and generally make my starters on Wednesday, chill on Friday and decant and pitch on Sunday. If you want to accelerate it, just watch to see when the starter finishes before chilling. With mine, I generally can easily see when it finishes and that's usually after 12-24 hours but I let it sit for an extra day anyway.

You don't need to step up *to* 2 liters. 2 liters is fine for a starting point. If you make a high gravity beer, you can add steps, though, to make a bigger starter.