Starter question

[Calder]

I have a small starter going from a sour beer (Monk's Cafe). Doing well so far, I assume it is the Sacc yeast that I see working.

How long should I leave the starter before stepping it up.

I eventually want to pitch this to a batch and see what happens, and I would like to ensure I have sufficient yeast to ferment the beer without having to add a different strain, so I'm going to have to step it up.

Obviously I want whatever else that is in there to do it's work on the remaining sugars in the wort.

 

[mattyp1214]

The problem is that they all "work on the remaining sugars" at different rates. The thing about pitching a white labs belgian sour is that they have to correct proportions. The sacc will probably take over most of the starter and possibly inhibit another. Not positive but this was my understanding.
To make sure pitch more bugs on top of the starter you are making

 

[Calder]

The problem is that they all "work on the remaining sugars" at different rates. The thing about pitching a white labs belgian sour is that they have to correct proportions. The sacc will probably take over most of the starter and possibly inhibit another. Not positive but this was my understanding.
To make sure pitch more bugs on top of the starter you are making

Not sure that makes sense. The bugs will still be there. I understand whitelabs proportions their packages to get a certain mix, but this was from the dregs in a bottle. If proportions are important, they are already screwed up due to the beer having gone through it's initial fermentation and conditioning.

I just want to see what I get from this. Call it an experiment.

Another question. When I step up the starter, should I pitch the whole of this mini starter or cold crash and pour off the liquid. Will the bugs settle out like the yeast, or will some stay n suspension?

 

[mattyp1214]

Not quite sure every starter I make I pitch all of it, but the wlp belgian sour actually says not to make a starter because the brett thrives better in that environment. I anxious to hear how it goes....
For my folie clone I pitched sacc then after krausen started to settle a few days later I pitched the sour mix and throughout the first few months any non pasteurized sour I drank I tossed the dregs in and it turned out amazing! (after 14 months)
Monks cafe may be pasteurized? I know it's somewhat more commercially available like duchess.

 

[Calder]

I'm making the starter to grow the sacc yeast, as I want to use it as a primary yeast as well as for souring. It's obviously not pasteurized because the main yeast is live. I suppose they could have pasteurized and added a bottling yeast, but why bother.

I don't care what WLP or Wyeast says you are supposed to do with their packs, I'm going to pitch this and see what happens, so I need to grow the yeast first since there isn't enough for a full batch yet.

Currently it's about a 12 oz starter. I'm going to step it up by pouring the lot (not crashing and decanting) into another 12 ozs of wort (doubling the volume) ........ I'll probably take an hydrometer reading to see how it is going, and might taste that too (never tasted a starter before, I hear they are awful), and then a third step of adding an additional 24 ozs (doubling again to 3 pints total). Then pitch.

I started this Monday (5 days ago), it showed signs of life 2 days later (3 days ago). What I would like to know, is should I step the starter up tomorrow (I would if it was just a normal yeast) or wait another week.