Poll: Stir Plates and Yeast Starters

[IslandLizard]

I'm fortunate to have 2 lab-grade orbital shakers. They're decommissioned, but good enough for my use.
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.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Are you talking of rehydration? That is not really a starter. It does not increase cell counts.

Vitality starter!

 

[Rackrunner]

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.

 

[A1sportsdad]

Dry yeast, direct pitch. Liquid yeast I do a starter with a stir plate.

 

[kh54s10]

Vitality starter!

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.

 

[RPh_Guy]

"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.

 

[bracconiere]

i had to vote what's a yeast starter, because i just repitch the dregs from the last batch...which i guess is kinda of a starter.....

 

[JLeuck64]

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.
( ;

 

[kh54s10]

"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.

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.

 

[brownni5]

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.