Best time to pitch from a starter?

[ophillium]

Last weekend I began building up a starter from the dregs of two bottles of a wild IPA (which is a brett strain) to make an all-brett IPA tomorrow.

Starting at 100ml, I've built it in stages to the current 1L. Having added the 1L of wort (made from DME; OG 1.030 ish) last night, she's got a krausen that I expect to subside by the evening.

My question is whether to top it up with fresh wort again tonight (so that it's bubbling with a fresh krausen when I pitch) or just leave it and use it as-is tomorrow.

Any insights into this process would be very much appreciated. I'm still in grade school when it comes to starter-knowledge.

 

[wi_brewer]

You'll find different opinions here, but I prefer to let the yeast settle out so I can decant the starter wort and pitch the slurry.

 

[ophillium]

You'll find different opinions here, but I prefer to let the yeast settle out so I can decant the starter wort and pitch the slurry.

That's how I do it when making the starters themselves. I wonder though how much of the slurry is just dead cells and waste products from the fermentation process.

I could see why someone would argue for the opposite, which would give a higher (active) cell count suspended in the wort itself. Although that too would come at the cost of adding more potentially-off-flavoured liquid into your batch...

 

[STMF]

You'll find different opinions here, but I prefer to let the yeast settle out so I can decant the starter wort and pitch the slurry.

I agree with this. Both that you'll get different opinions and to cold-crash/settle the starter ant pitch the slurry.

 

[STMF]

Dubble post.

 

[ophillium]

I agree with this. Both that you'll get different opinions and to cold-crash/settle the starter ant pitch the slurry.

A corollary question then -- should I cold-crash it while the krausen is still going, or wait til it settles?

 

[kal]

If you have enough yeast, you're good. There's no need for it to be actively fermenting when you pitch as it's so fresh. In fact, you usually want to crash chill it so that you can separate the yeast from the 'beer' as you don't want to throw off the flavours on the beer you're going to pitch into.

You don't have to wait for the krausen to drop to cold crash. Cold crashing will drop the yeast. Give it a good 2-3 days to drop clear.

Good luck!

Kal

 

[ophillium]

If you have enough yeast, you're good. There's no need for it to be actively fermenting when you pitch as it's so fresh. In fact, you usually want to crash chill it so that you can separate the yeast from the 'beer' as you don't want to throw off the flavours on the beer you're going to pitch into.

You don't have to wait for the krausen to drop to cold crash. Cold crashing will drop the yeast. Give it a good 2-3 days to drop clear.

Good luck!

Kal

A nice wrap-up to the thread -- thanks everyone

 

[IslandLizard]

Here's an interesting read on a yeast pitch "Exbeeriment."

Separating the yeast from the oxidized starter beer is the preferred method, especially in beers with subtler flavor profiles, or when the starter beer volume would be large compared to the batch size. But in many cases the flavor impact would be surprisingly negligible, and sometimes pitching actively fermenting starter beer is the best method. For example to resurrect a stalled fermentation, or when cell count is smaller than ideal.

Although not considered "scientific" by the book using large data sets and quantitative analysis, the whole Brülosophy website is worth reading. They're sort of the Mythbusters of beer brewing. They use a qualitative approach, small beer tasting panels, to test the results, in an effort to debunk existing brewing myths.

The past few brews I've been using the vitality starter method for yeast pitches with previously used and stored (refrigerated) yeast, and like the approach so far. I actually use 1.5 liter of the actual beer wort for the vitality starter, and pitch the whole starter 4-6 hours later into the wort which by that time has reached the proper pitching temp (and desired clarity).

That said, I think it would be fine to pitch your whole "wild yeast" starter into your IPA if you want to brew today. The IPA should be flavorful enough to cover up any off flavors from the starter beer. Besides, wild yeast fermentations are all about generating a funky character.