Is my starter big enough?

[arborman]

After looking at lots of youtube videos, I came away with what seemed to be the best recipe to make up a 1.040 starter.

I am equipped with a stir plate and flask set up.

Here is what I did:

Mixed 2 cups of water and a 1/2 cup of DME. Boiled for 10 minutes. Before hand, I smacked a pack of wyeast american ale, and let it set for about 3 hours. I pitched the yeast into my small wort batch at about 65 degrees. I now have it on a stir plate, and plan to leave it there till mid afternoon Sunday when I pitch.

But, of course I have continued to read more about starters, and I went to the Mr. Malty website. Based on the calculations in there, Jamil calls for slightly over a liter of starter based on the OG of the brew I am going to be cooking up. Well, I only have less then a 1/2 liter in my flask. Did I botch this, or will this be good to pitch? I am not planning on decanting this, since I dont have the time. If this is too small amount of starter, can I boil up another batch of DME/Water and add it to this starter?

Thanks guys... I am asking so many questions these days and your always bailing me out!:rockin:

 

[frazier]

1. Yes, you can step it up by switching to a bigger flask, and adding more wort.

2. Do you need to? I dunno - I tend to think that while MrMalty has his good points, it represents an excessively theoretical calculation with only a tenuous link to real-world mission-critical events.

3. That being said, I make a 2 to 2.5L starter for all my beers. Because, you know, bigger is better and all that.

4. I've heard lots of people say they just pitch the vial or smack pack into the beer, and it works out fine. My guess is that the starter you have made is an improvement over the smack pack, and if you step it up it will be another improvement. But you will most likely be fine either way.

Cheers!

ETA: I'm really not putting MrMalty down or anything. It's just that whenever I hear someone say "I made a 2.3L starter just like MrMalty said," I roll my eyes. Whatever happened to RDWHAHB?