Help with Pitching starter for barleywine

[zam216]

I am planning on brewing a barleywine sunday and am making a starter for it now. I am using 1 vial of WLP007 dry english ale yeast and its production date was nov 30. I am assuming my OG at 1.1 off of beer smith which will in reality be more like 1.08. When I use mr Malty it says with my stir plate I need 4.4 L of a starter but my flask only holds 2L. Can I repitch my first starter into a second one to get the cell count up? If so do I repitch all of the yeast or just partial? Would it just be easier to get another vial and pitch 2 into my starter?

 

[blizz81]

You can let it ferment for a couple days, swirling manually often, and then crash it and decant the wort off the top, and fill it up with another 2L of new starter wort, and have it do its thing again.

 

[morticaixavier]

You won't get your target cell count that way however because the maximum population density will be hit in 2 liters at about 400 billion cells. If you have two containers each 2 liters you can split the slurry from the first step into two starters and get your target cell count.

 

[frazier]

IWhen I use mr Malty it says with my stir plate I need 4.4 L of a starter but my flask only holds 2L.

I think I understand your problem. Try this:

1. Go to the store and buy a gallon jug of cheap red wine.
2. Bring it home, dump it into a pot, add mulling spices, and set it over a low flame.
3. Clean and sanitize the jug, and make a starter.
4. Pitch the yeast;
5. Invite some friends over to help you with the mulled wine. Win!

Personally, I think a lot of folks take Mr. Malty just a little too seriously. Maybe that’s just me.

 

[sweetcell]

alternate plan:
1. make 2L starter as originally planned
2. when done, cold crash so the yeast settles out
3. sanitize 2 mason/ball jars. fill the first jar with decanted liquid from the starter. pour the rest of the liquid from the starter down the drain until there is about an inch left over the yeast cake. use that liquid to swirl up the cake. pour the resulting slurry into second jar. leave a little yeast behind in the flask, like 10% of it. top up flask with fresh wort - voila, new starter (you'll need to estimate cell creation. repeat as needed). top up second jar with the reserved decanted liquid from the first jar, seal and store in fridge.

 

[morticaixavier]

I think I understand your problem. Try this:

1. Go to the store and buy a gallon jug of cheap red wine.
2. Bring it home, dump it into a pot, add mulling spices, and set it over a low flame.
3. Clean and sanitize the jug, and make a starter.
4. Pitch the yeast;
5. Invite some friends over to help you with the mulled wine. Win!

Personally, I think a lot of folks take Mr. Malty just a little too seriously. Maybe that’s just me.

This is also an excellent idea.

 

[blizz81]

You won't get your target cell count that way however because the maximum population density will be hit in 2 liters at about 400 billion cells. If you have two containers each 2 liters you can split the slurry from the first step into two starters and get your target cell count.

I didn't read the OP very well either, didn't see the stir plate. That's gonna be getting to max yield more quickly than no stir plate.


Though I did punch in three 2L steps into Brewer's Friend for kicks and played around with the drop-downs. Selecting stir plate for all three, after the 2nd step it shows 690bil cells, third step shows a higher cell count but notes that the starter is saturated / increase size. Is it missing on max population density? I would assume there's no two ways to make that calculation.


Also curious, when fully saturated, is it pretty much just one big yeast cake with no real "visible" wort?

 

[zam216]

All great ideas thank you! I went with a second vial last minute but it was a vial that is expired next week so most cells are probably dead anyway. Next time I'm gonna try just splitting the original starter and adding fresh wart to it as mentioned above.