Poll: Stir Plates and Yeast Starters

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Do you make yeast starters or use a stir plate?

  • Yes, I make yeast starters, and use a stir plate.

  • Yes, I make yeast starters, but I just shake it periodically.

  • Yes, I make yeast starters, but just let it sit there.

  • No, I don't make yeast starters. I just pitch the liquid yeast.

  • No, I don't make yeast starters. I use dry yeast.

  • What's a yeast starter?

Results are only viewable after voting.
I do, but lately I'm using dry yeast with no starter a lot. Voted for the stir plate though since I often use it with liquid yeast.

Rev.
 
I always make a starter and use my stir plate. I make a starter twice the size of what I need and decant half for my next starter. I only buy new strains of yeast once a year or so.
 
I don't always use liquid yeast
but when I do, I take it stirred, not shaken.
 
Dry, no. With smackpacks, sometimes I make a starter (with a stir-plate), but I'm just as likely to buy multiple packs and pitch them w/o doing a starter. I shoot for the appropriate cell-count, but don't lose any sleep if my theoretical count is off (hi or low) by 25%.
 
Answered "Whats a starter" to add some variety to the poll.

I am building my own stir plate right now with computer parts, thankfully I have like 15 years of old computer parts/hard drives. Otherwise I'm the dry yeast camp, couple bad experiences with smack packs and I cannot get white labs stuff from LHBS. I am building my stir plate and getting the flask/stir bar and all that jazz so I can still purchase liquid yeasts from my LHBS, thus expanding my yeast options. Also I want to try and have at least 1 beer win a category this year at a BJCP comp (not necessarily BOS but that would make me happy), after a year and a half of futzing around its time to get serious (Arnold Schwarzeneger accent).
 
Yes - starters on a stir plate.

I'm three beers into my homebrewing experience, but I've used a starter for the last two. For my first beer (California Common kit from a local LHBS), I honestly had no idea that a starter was helpful when using liquid yeast (in this case a Wyeast 2112 smack pack). I just assumed there would be plenty of yeast cells for proper fermentation. And, to be perfectly honest, I ended up with a decent fermentation and pretty good beer. That said...

I really enjoy the process of making a starter on my $20 homemade stir plate. There's a "mad scientist" feel to it that I love, and since I've only brewed every 5-6 weeks, it's given me something to do while waiting impatiently for my impending brewday. And with my last starter (of harvested Bell's yeast) I saved a small portion of the starter to use for a future beer. I may have gotten there without a stir plate, but I don't know if the process would have gone so well.

So...$20 spent on the stir bar and parts for the stir plate. That ought to pay for itself in just a few brewdays. I also bought a 2L flask for like $15, but I suppose it wasn't absolutely necessary.
 
In the past I used mostly dry yeast. Last time I tried liquid yeast and did not see much difference. Maybe I'll try to use a stir plate with dry yeast next time so I can use only part of the dry yeast packet and save. I am a bit cheap like that... ;) Not sure if this would work though.
 
I don't make yeast starters for standard gravity ales, 5 gallons at 1.060 or less. I find it to be unnecessary, as long as the yeast is reasonably healthy.

Stronger beers or lagers get starters, but I don't use a stir plate. I will either shake once to aerate (if I'm pitching the starter wort into the beer), or shake intermittently (if I have time to cold crash and decant the starter wort).
 
I voted for using a stirplate. But for the last year I have used mostly dry yeast. If I get a new vial I am going to try the newer method of shaking the bejeebers out of the wort in a big jar and letting it sit. Denny Conn posted links to a couple of articles he wrote about the procedure. I also have a frozen yeast bank and it requires a lengthy step up method so it is stirplate for that.
 
I have been brewing for one year and have done 33 beers using dry yeast on 75% of them. For the rest, most are WL and couple WY which I don't like much the smack pack. Most brews are around 5% ABV and the biggest brew has been 7% ABV. I have never done a starter. Stir plate etc. is the last piece of equipment that I don't have and may buy someday. I guess I need more information on why I need a starter since all my beers have fermented great.
 
Alex4mula said:
I have been brewing for one year and have done 33 beers using dry yeast on 75% of them. For the rest, most are WL and couple WY which I don't like much the smack pack. Most brews are around 5% ABV and the biggest brew has been 7% ABV. I have never done a starter. Stir plate etc. is the last piece of equipment that I don't have and may buy someday. I guess I need more information on why I need a starter since all my beers have fermented great.
Click to expand...

Same here. I don't bother with starters on standard gravity beers. I think a lot of it is just brew lore and an overabundance of caution. That'll happen naturally when a sizable portion of hobbyists come from engineering and science backgrounds.
:mug:
 
Seeing a selection for "No, I don't make yeast starters. I use dry yeast." I presume the author assumed all "starter" choices are for liquid yeasts...

Cheers!
 
Starters are an issue for me since I started brewing larger batches. This thread got me doing some calculations and shopping for a 5L flask might get back to starters and liquid yeast.
 
I'm fortunate to have 2 lab-grade orbital shakers. They're decommissioned, but good enough for my use. :rock:
Each can fit 4 2-liter flasks or 4 1/2-gallon pickle jars. Or 2 1-gallon jugs. Pretty much any vessel will work. No stir bar needed.
 
All dry yeast direct pitch here. Most of my batches only require one packet, but if it needs two the LHBS gets their extra 4 bucks from me. I've re-hydrated a few times and did a starter once or twice, but it didn't seem to make an appreciable difference in the beer and I'm a lazy, lazy man.
 
RPh_Guy said:
Vitality starter!
Click to expand...

IMO, and per dry yeast manufacturers, if you are rehydrating for more than approximately 30 minutes you are depleting the nutrients and sterols that are engineered into a coating on the yeast. Thus you are pitching yeast that are less healthy than if you just rehydrated or pitched dry.
 
"Rehydration" specifically refers to letting the yeast rehydrate in water. When I rehydrate I do not let it go longer than 15 minutes without sugar.

A vitality starter is different, and does increase cell count.

I know how you feel about vitality starters. I also know your beer takes more than twice as long to ferment as mine. ;)
 
I have been using a stir plate to over-build yeast starters for several years now. Seems so much easier with the timing for a brew day, plus I have extra that I can reuse for the next brew day.
( ;
 
RPh_Guy said:
"Rehydration" specifically refers to letting the yeast rehydrate in water. When I rehydrate I do not let it go longer than 15 minutes without sugar.

A vitality starter is different, and does increase cell count.

I know how you feel about vitality starters. I also know your beer takes more than twice as long to ferment as mine. ;)
Click to expand...

You don't know that since I don't know how long it takes for mine to finish. I never take any gravity readings while fermenting so I have now way of knowing when they actually finish. I do allow 2 weeks to be sure.
 
I bank yeasts and like to switch things up - I might use a yeast and not come back to it for 6 months or more. With no nearby LHBS, this is almost a necessity for me. So, starter on a stirplate it is. Can I get by another way? Sure, but I love watching my stirplate.
 

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