I'm planning a Barley Wine and have read a lot about huge starters, which makes sense. I have two 2L flasks I can use or I can make a starter brew. Never done stepped starters or reused a yeast cake.
Conventional - I'm thinking do a 1.8L, decant, split the yeast then step up the two individually. I can use beer smith to help figure out how many times to step up and by how much.
Starter beer - I'm thinking a simple blonde, taking care to transfer no trub to the fermenter. One week later move it off the yeast cake and pitch the Barley Wine. Most of my beers are pretty much done by a week but there's still some yeast in suspension, any harm in waiting two weeks so everything drops out? I'm not planning on doing a wash as they would be back to back, I assume once I add the beer to the yeast cake I'd give it a little shake to stir things up? I'd use an oxygen stone so shaking would just be to get all of my little buddies into suspension.
Any real benefit to either method besides one being a little more work but yielding 5 gal of enjoyable beer?
Conventional - I'm thinking do a 1.8L, decant, split the yeast then step up the two individually. I can use beer smith to help figure out how many times to step up and by how much.
Starter beer - I'm thinking a simple blonde, taking care to transfer no trub to the fermenter. One week later move it off the yeast cake and pitch the Barley Wine. Most of my beers are pretty much done by a week but there's still some yeast in suspension, any harm in waiting two weeks so everything drops out? I'm not planning on doing a wash as they would be back to back, I assume once I add the beer to the yeast cake I'd give it a little shake to stir things up? I'd use an oxygen stone so shaking would just be to get all of my little buddies into suspension.
Any real benefit to either method besides one being a little more work but yielding 5 gal of enjoyable beer?
