bellam87
Active Member
I have a few ag brews under my belt but have just started playing with making starters for yeast. My question, due to my first starter batch tasting like cardboard, is it possible to oxidize a batch through a starter?
oxidizing from starter?
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stratslinger
Well-Known Member
To expand on that just a little bit - you WANT a lot of oxygen in your starter!
The whole purpose of a starter is to propagate more yeast - that process requires oxygen, which is why a stir plate or frequent shaking of the starter is such a benefit to starter growth. During that process of propagating more yeast, the yeast chew up all the available oxygen.
That said, the remaining spent wort in the starter may be a little oxygenated, so it's not a bad idea to decant it prior to pitching to your wort.
The whole purpose of a starter is to propagate more yeast - that process requires oxygen, which is why a stir plate or frequent shaking of the starter is such a benefit to starter growth. During that process of propagating more yeast, the yeast chew up all the available oxygen.
That said, the remaining spent wort in the starter may be a little oxygenated, so it's not a bad idea to decant it prior to pitching to your wort.
BrewKnurd
Well-Known Member
So really all that's at question here is whether your starter has experienced enough oxidation prior to pitching to impact the flavor of your beer. Certainly any dissolved oxygen remaining in the starter is not going to have a negative impact, since you're going to dump it into a batch of wort that you have intentionally added oxygen too.
If you're doing a one liter starter into a 5 Gal batch of beer, you'll be fine. The only place i might even start to think about it is if you were doing a large starter into a delicate beer, i.e. a light lager or something. But I'd be decanting the starter in this case regardless of any oxidation concerns.
I pretty much always decant my starters, because I want all of my beer to be the beer I intended to brew, not part the beer I intended and part starter beer. But I imagine that for many (maybe all) of my beers, in a side by side test I wouldn't be able to pick out the difference between two batches where the only difference was decanting or not.
If you're doing a one liter starter into a 5 Gal batch of beer, you'll be fine. The only place i might even start to think about it is if you were doing a large starter into a delicate beer, i.e. a light lager or something. But I'd be decanting the starter in this case regardless of any oxidation concerns.
I pretty much always decant my starters, because I want all of my beer to be the beer I intended to brew, not part the beer I intended and part starter beer. But I imagine that for many (maybe all) of my beers, in a side by side test I wouldn't be able to pick out the difference between two batches where the only difference was decanting or not.
bellam87
Active Member
I guess I need to trace my steps backwards then because everyone is coming to the same conclusion as me. Maybe its just a different tasting beer.... this is my first time doing an English ale smash.
12 lbs Maris otter
1 oz east Kent goldings@ 60, 30, 15, 0
12 lbs Maris otter
1 oz east Kent goldings@ 60, 30, 15, 0
BrewKnurd
Well-Known Member
What yeast? And have you used that strain before? English strains have more character than something like cal ale. Not sure what yeast strains you're used to. 
bellam87
Active Member
I've normally used wlp001 but changed to a wlp005 just to see the difference, I'll let you know how it turns out after conditioning for a few more weeks
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