Advice/opinions on size of a yeast starter

[Dontdropthebeer]

Hello

I am no stranger to making starters. Often when I bottle beer, I will pour off the yeast cake, and store it in mason jars that I have sterilized in boiling water. I then will decant and store in a fridge, then later when i want to use it, take a jar and make a 1L starter with about 100g of DME. I will then either step up or just use that in a 19l (5 gallon) batch of standard 1.060ish beer.

I normally do all grain 19l/5gallon batches using an all in one system but I am wanting to sort of get back to basics for various reasons and try a 1 gallon/ 5L batch on the stove top. I am unsure about how much yeast to pitch for this smaller size. I know there are calculators but i want to reach out for personalized opinions/guidance.

I made a 1L starter using some oldish (8 months in the fridge) S-23 yeast, and I am thinking of doing a small stove top batch of a german pilsener recipe from brewing classic styles (about 1.047 OG) and i want to test out a fermentation chamber build i am working on. I plan to try to ferment it around 51-59f (11-15c). The starter has been happily bubbling away so it seems viable.

my question is - would this be too much to pitch and i should take a portion of it? Or is it fine to just pitch the whole amount?

Thanks in advance!

 

[DuncB]

I don't think that a 1 litre starter would be an overpitch for a lager in that 5 litre batch size.
I suspect it would have been an underpitch in the past for your 19 litre batches though.
I would let the starter settle and decant off the spent wort and pitch only the restarted yeast.

 

[wepeeler]

Hello

I am no stranger to making starters. Often when I bottle beer, I will pour off the yeast cake, and store it in mason jars that I have sterilized in boiling water. I then will decant and store in a fridge, then later when i want to use it, take a jar and make a 1L starter with about 100g of DME. I will then either step up or just use that in a 19l (5 gallon) batch of standard 1.060ish beer.

I normally do all grain 19l/5gallon batches using an all in one system but I am wanting to sort of get back to basics for various reasons and try a 1 gallon/ 5L batch on the stove top. I am unsure about how much yeast to pitch for this smaller size. I know there are calculators but i want to reach out for personalized opinions/guidance.

I made a 1L starter using some oldish (8 months in the fridge) S-23 yeast, and I am thinking of doing a small stove top batch of a german pilsener recipe from brewing classic styles (about 1.047 OG) and i want to test out a fermentation chamber build i am working on. I plan to try to ferment it around 51-59f (11-15c). The starter has been happily bubbling away so it seems viable.

my question is - would this be too much to pitch and i should take a portion of it? Or is it fine to just pitch the whole amount?

Thanks in advance!

I would build that up a bit more for a lager. Rule of thumb is you want at least double the amount of yeast for lagers.

BUT, I did contact Omega about using their Propper Starter cans, and they told me they use a 1:10 ratio of yeast medium to starter wort. So basically 100ml of yeast medium can inoculate 1L starter wort. I used to harvest off 500ml to make 2L starter, and they told me that was probably overkill. Harvest less, pitch more. I did that for my last batch, and she's clean as a whistle!

 

[Dontdropthebeer]

thank you everyone for the input. The calculators mostly say the starter is enough.

im thinking i will just pitch 1/2 to the whole thing, since i am planning to ferment it on the cooler side, and we'll see what happens.

i am really approaching it as an experiment since 1) i havent done a stovetop batch in over 10 years, and 2) i am planning to test out a fermentation chamber im building and see how the temps hold.

thanks again!