Decant liquid or throw it all in?

[AkBrew907]

Started making starters for my beers and am curious what most people do. Are you throwing everything from the starter in or letting it settle, decanting the liquid on top and then just pouring the good stuff into the fermenter?

Pro's/cons? Tried to see if this was asked in another thread but couldn't find anything.

 

[d3track]

I'm a decanter - at 5 gallons a 2L starter is almost 10 of volume, and then I have more headspace in my fermenter

 

[AkBrew907]

So cold crash it. Decant liquid and then add just a little hot water to break it up when ready to pitch?

 

[3toes]

So cold crash it. Decant liquid and then add just a little hot water to break it up when ready to pitch?

Decant most, but not all. I let it sit out until it warms up to the proper pitching temp, then give it a swirl with the remaining beer to get it back into suspension to pitch. I wouldn't throw in any hot water as that would likely shock the yeast.

 

[d3track]

Yeah, take it from the fridge, decant, swirl. You won't need to add any water.

 

[vNmd]

I decant all but about 1/2 inch in a 3L flask. Once it is decanted I shake the crap out of the flask to break the bottom stuff up and then I put it back on the stir plate for an hour or two before pitching.

 

[Shooter]

If I'm going for a full size 2L starter, absolutely decant every time. If I am just doing a small 1L starter to get the yeast active I don't bother decanting.

 

[Rehlgood]

I find that my starters will settle out faster if left at room temp. So I leave them on the stir plate 2-3 days and then turn the stir plate off for 2 days. Pour off 2/3 the liquid. Swirl to resuspend the yeast and pitch.

 

[Bassman2003]

I decent for lagers and pitch the whole thing for ales. Why? Well, I think it is better to pitch when the yeast are perked up rather than putting them to sleep in the fridge, decanting then pitching. The typical time for a starter is 12-18 hours so I make one the night before and the yeast are peaking be the end of the brew day ready for pitching. Ale starters are smaller than lagers as well.

 

[enkamania]

I decant, don't want that craptastic wort flavor in my beer

 

[stpug]

Dacanter here. I leave about 1/2-3/4 cup of starter to swirl everything up, but the majority hits the drain.

I also pour a small amount of the decanting liquid into a sample glass before it hits the drain so I can taste how things progressed so I can avoid a bad pitch (since I often use yeast that has been frozen for 1-2 years). While the starter liquid is never "good", it usually falls in line with my general expectations from the yeast (although magnified). There was once a starter I made that had some significant sulfur and very belgian fruitiness that was created from my very first frozen US05 yeast - I dumped the whole starter and pitched a dry sachet of Nottingham instead

 

[jahdub]

I find that my starters will settle out faster if left at room temp. So I leave them on the stir plate 2-3 days and then turn the stir plate off for 2 days. Pour off 2/3 the liquid. Swirl to resuspend the yeast and pitch.

So you're saying the yeast in your starter doesn't settle out after 2 days in the fridge? If this is the case, you probably mixed up your fridge with your oven.

In all seriousness, it doesn't make any sort of sense that yeast would flocculate faster at room temp than refrigerator temp.