I have been planning a high gravity beer (Hopslam clone) and it calls for a starter stepped up from 1L to 2L to 4L. I tried to read different takes on just how to do this and decided to visit the White Labs website to get their take. They only had information on a starter so I e-mailed them to get some clarification. This is the response, if true it throws everything I've read an wrong.
Here is their response:
I normally start with a little more water so that I end up with about 2 pints (1 liter) when I'm done, but it's not critical. The important thing is that the gravity of the starter be at 1.040 or less and that you provide adequate oxygen supply to the yeast during the starter. Doing a stepped starter is good to further increase the yeast growth, but the recommended steps are usually 10X the previous step in order to maintain the growth rate. You'll get a good doubling of the culture when pitching 1 vial into a 1L starter, but to get a further doubling you'd need to pitch that yeast into a 10L starter, which is a lot to ask a homebrew to make. It might be easier to take part of that starter and do another 1L starter to further the yeast growth. For an ale starting at 1.095, you probably want to pitch 3 vials, or do a 2 step starter to get enough yeast to finish, and make sure to oxygenate the wort well before pitching.
You can use the yeast from a previous batch as long as that batch wasn't also a high gravity brew. High gravity fermentations are very stressful on yeast, much like running a marathon is on a person. You wouldn't want to run 2 in a row or the 2nd one wouldn't be pretty. If your first beer was a low gravity beer, then the yeast will be in good shape to do a higher gravity beer next, and you should be able to collect plenty of yeast. You may want to rinse the yeast first to remove any trub and dead cells, and there's plenty of info on that process on the web.
I hope that helps. Good luck and happy brewing!
John Carroll
White Labs, Inc.
Sales & Customer Service
Tel: (888) 593-2785 - U.S. & Canada
(303) 530-0469 - International
Here is their response:
I normally start with a little more water so that I end up with about 2 pints (1 liter) when I'm done, but it's not critical. The important thing is that the gravity of the starter be at 1.040 or less and that you provide adequate oxygen supply to the yeast during the starter. Doing a stepped starter is good to further increase the yeast growth, but the recommended steps are usually 10X the previous step in order to maintain the growth rate. You'll get a good doubling of the culture when pitching 1 vial into a 1L starter, but to get a further doubling you'd need to pitch that yeast into a 10L starter, which is a lot to ask a homebrew to make. It might be easier to take part of that starter and do another 1L starter to further the yeast growth. For an ale starting at 1.095, you probably want to pitch 3 vials, or do a 2 step starter to get enough yeast to finish, and make sure to oxygenate the wort well before pitching.
You can use the yeast from a previous batch as long as that batch wasn't also a high gravity brew. High gravity fermentations are very stressful on yeast, much like running a marathon is on a person. You wouldn't want to run 2 in a row or the 2nd one wouldn't be pretty. If your first beer was a low gravity beer, then the yeast will be in good shape to do a higher gravity beer next, and you should be able to collect plenty of yeast. You may want to rinse the yeast first to remove any trub and dead cells, and there's plenty of info on that process on the web.
I hope that helps. Good luck and happy brewing!
John Carroll
White Labs, Inc.
Sales & Customer Service
Tel: (888) 593-2785 - U.S. & Canada
(303) 530-0469 - International
I try to DIY as much as I can to save a buck.. I made my stir plate for about $22.00
