Building a yeast starter from a bottle???

[Clarke]

as I build my starter do I need to drain some of the already fermented wart/beer off in order to keep my OG around 1.040? I am about to move up to the next size and wondering if I just add wart to the current slurry it will be diluted to less than 1.040 leaving my yeast in less than desirable conditions?


Thanks

 

[andhou27]

The starter won't dilute the gravity enough for you or the yeast to notice

 

[Clarke]

I edited my question above to (in my head) make it clearer and I ended up deleting the first part of my post.

I salvaged the yeast from the last bottle of a batch and grew it from a baby jar to a growler. I am wanting to grow it a bit more so.... (see above) as I build my starter.....

but I see your point, the yeast won't care as long as there is fermentables.

thanks

 

[joshjv]

You can decant the wort off the yeast if you need to reduce the volume when you jump up to a bigger size. A cold crash would help to settle it out before you decant.

 

[Clarke]

Is decanting necessary? I guess that is my ultimate question here... What do most of ya'll do? Which is the best practice to decant or not to decant?

If no decant, do you still make a 1.040 wart or higher or does it even matter?

 

[fearwig]

If I have time to chill it before pitch, I decant. The point is that 2-4qts of unhopped, random malt, perhaps too-warm fermented starter juice will offset flavor (10-20% of your volume!). If I don't have time to chill so the yeast drop out, glug glug.

I have taken to doing quick overnight starters from the same wort I just boiled, while the bulk of the batch cools, so for those I pitch everything. Dilute to 40 with cold water, shake shake, good to go. 12 hours and you're past growth phase, so as long as you are comfy with your wort waiting that long (you should be, but many aren't) you're golden. And you minimize hop and malt dilution, since your starter is from the same wort (albeit diluted to 40).

Edit: sorry, you mean for stepping up starters. *actually reads op*

 

[Clarke]

Sorry guys, I am not making myself clear...

I am not making a beer at this point I am only trying to make my starter larger... to turn a 1 liter into a 2 liter

If you was going from 1L to 2L starter do you decant the first liter and add back 2 more liters of fresh wart? or just add 1 liter of fresh wart to the already fermented liter currently in the growler?

Or does it even matter?

 

[afr0byte]

Sorry guys, I am not making myself clear...

I am not making a beer at this point I am only trying to make my starter larger... to turn a 1 liter into a 2 liter

If you was going from 1L to 2L starter do you decant the first liter and add back 2 more liters of fresh wart? or just add 1 liter of fresh wart to the already fermented liter currently in the growler?

Or does it even matter?

It depends on how much yeast you want to grow. When people say they step their starter from 1 to 2 liters it normally means their first starter is 1 liter and then the second starter pitches the yeast from the first starter in to 2 additional liters of wort (or the 2 liters in to the container of the original starter if the container is big enough).

 

[fearwig]

It depends on how much yeast you want to grow. When people say they step their starter from 1 to 2 liters it normally means their first starter is 1 liter and then the second starter pitches the yeast from the first starter in to 2 additional liters of wort (or the 2 liters in to the container of the original starter if the container is big enough).

So this is a yes to crash-and-decant, or are you looking at 3L total volume? Because otherwise you'd add 2L of 1.040 to 1L of something lower SG than that (depending on how long you ferment it out after the growth phase, wyeast says 24-36), and that makes my brain hurt already.

I never "got" step starters because there are so many factors and every set of instructions differs: decanting, crashing, duration, etc. I'd sooner make a 4q single-step starter (or whatever you need per your calculator) and be done with it. I feel like the extra mystery variables in a step starter are going to throw my totals off and then I'm back to trial and error at the drawing board.

Wyeast's calculator is infuriating, because if you remove the second step for comparison (zero it out and enter total volume in first step field) it claims you have a higher pitch rate using no starter at all. So obviously it doesn't want you doing it that way, but I don't want to have to read a pitch rate calculator's mind to know I'm not getting nonsense results. At least I can usually get an idea of what Mr. Malty's calculator is doing with my numbers.

 

[afr0byte]

So this is a yes to crash-and-decant, or are you looking at 3L total volume? Because otherwise you'd add 2L of 1.040 to 1L of something lower SG than that (depending on how long you ferment it out after the growth phase, wyeast says 24-36), and that makes my brain hurt already.

I prefer to only decent if I have to / after the last step up. So, if I have a 3-4liter container I'll do a 1 liter starter, let it go for 24 hours, and then add 2 liters of fresh wort. I maximize my yeast this way. As far as the lowering of the overal gravity when not decanting in between steps, don't worry about it. You're still giving the yeast the same amount of nutrients as you would if you'd decanted first.