Starter in fridge ready to use..ladle off top?

[Kayos]

What is the general consensus now that I am taking my starter out of the fridge? Ladle the beer off the top of te yeast cake or swirl the whole thing and dump it in?

 

[Tophe]

I always just swirl and dump.

 

[FlyingHorse]

What is the general consensus ...

ha ha ha

now that I am taking my starter out of the fridge? Ladle the beer off the top of te yeast cake or swirl the whole thing and dump it in?

If it's a small starter (< 1 qt) I leave it in.

If it's bigger and you're sure the yeast has settled, you can pour it off. Don't need to, though, unless you're worried about the starter's gravity and/or flavor being drastically different from the brew...

 

[user 4295]

I don't know what the consensus is, but I like to slowly decant the spent, oxidized liquid off the top of the yeast cake, leaving just enough liquid to swirl and re-suspend the yeast, and just pitch the slurry.

 

[2nd Street Brewery]

If I have a really big starter I will drain some of the liquid off the top, then swirl and pitch. You won't add that much to your wort by pouring it in.

 

[Monster Mash]

If it has been it the fridge and the yeast has dropped out there is no sense in pitching the whole thing. Just slowly pour off the spent wort leaving enough to swirl the yeast and pitch that.

I do that before transfering to the fermenter and I take some cooled wort from my CFC and put it back in the flask. I then put it back on the stirplate and let it spin while transfering. Usually fermentation starts back up by the time I'm done transfering and I just pitch the whole thing.

 

[Turkeyfoot Jr.]

I had a question, sort of along these lines. If you're planning on decanting anyway is there any harm in making a bigger starter? I just made my first one using 2 cups water and 1/2 cup DME. The result was a yeast cake a little less than 1/2 inch thick. This is in a gallon growler by the way. I would imagine if I'd gone with a quart of water and 1 cup DME or even bigger that a bigger cake would have resulted, correct? Is there any harm in doing this?

 

[Monster Mash]

You want your starter to be around 1.040. If you make the gravity too high you will stress the yeast, you want to increase the cell count, not make beer.

I use 3.2 oz DME per quart of water, it is best to weight the DME to get an accurate measurement. If you increase the starter liquid you will increase the cell count.

Go to http://www.mrmalty.com/ and look for the yeast pitching calculator.