"Stepping Up" a starter

[bknifefight]

I am about to brew a tripel and Mr Malty says I need a 3 liter starter. I have several starters bagged and frozen at 1 liter each. Right now the yeast is having its way with one of these on a stir plate. Would it be the same as stepping up the starter if I were to wait until it is finished fermenting the starter it is in now, cold crash the yeast, decant off the 1 liter of beer it is on and add another 1 liter starter & repeat? The reason I ask is because I only have 1 liter flasks and all of my growlers will not work on the stir plate.

 

[TipsyDragon]

actually thats the definition of stepping up.

 

[Douglefish]

I actually thought that "stepping up" a starter would be like

Steps
250 ml + 1 smack pack - Let it fully Ferment
Add 750 ml of wort - Let it fully ferment
Add 2 Liters of wort - Let it fully ferment

I believe that you will get more yeast the way you mentioned, but I don't think it's the same as what MrMalty.com is talking about.

 

[bknifefight]

Not really. I will not be increasing the amount of wort I am feeding to the yeast. My thought is that the yeast will grow so much while eating the first 1 liter, I'll decant that off when it is fermented and then add another 1 liter starter and repeat.

 

[bguzz]

I don't think you will get the same amount of growth with the decant and reload approach.

Jamil had discussed this on brewstrong or the sunday session some time ago that the volume of wort was important to yeast growth, almost something like the yeast can sense the volume of wort and will act differently based on volume.

That being said, I think you will still grow yeast and I wouldn't be too worried about it especially if you have a stir plate at your disposal.

 

[bknifefight]

That's what I wanted to know. Maybe I will do the stir plate thing and then just do a 3-liter starter in a growler opting out of the stir plate for the final growth before I pitch.

 

[Douglefish]

Not sure what kind of stir plate you have, but I made my own and it works great with both 1/2 gallon growlers and also 1 gallon growlers (which I use the most). I did have to raise my magnet up a little for the growlers, but well worth it.

 

[shortyjacobs]

I actually thought that "stepping up" a starter would be like

Steps
250 ml + 1 smack pack - Let it fully Ferment
Add 750 ml of wort - Let it fully ferment
Add 2 Liters of wort - Let it fully ferment

I believe that you will get more yeast the way you mentioned, but I don't think it's the same as what MrMalty.com is talking about.

This is stepping up, correct.

OP, what you are doing, logically, would produce more yeast. But many "experts" on this site and others, say no. They say the yeast hits a "terminal concentration" in the wort, and won't grow any more, no matter how many times you decant and add more wort, if it's always 1L of wort the yeast are in, they will never reproduce more...