When to refrigerate Yeast Starter for Step Up

[andy6026]

I'm making a 1L yeast starter that I plan to step up to 2L and then to 4L. I have a few questions that I haven't found the answers to:

1) How long after pitching the yeast into the initial starter should I then put it in the fridge so that much of the yeast settles?

2) Since I plan on splitting this into 2x1L starters for the next stage, should I decant off most of the liquid after it's been refrigerated, or just split that volume evenly between the two new starters and go from there?

3) If the answer to #2 is that I should indeed decant, how long should it ideally be in the fridge before decanting and moving on to the next stage?

Thanks a bunch!

 

[Falcon3]

If you're pitching a relatively healthy tube, I would imagine that you won't even need the first step- 100b cells should have no problem with 2L of 1.036 wort for a starter. A fresh tube won't take long to ferment out that much wort, either, so I usually wait 24 hours for anything less than 2L. While it's working, I'll periodically shake it up and swirl it around to resuspend the yeast. I usually go 24 for ferment, refrigerate for a few hours, then start my next step.

DEFINITELY decant though- and depending on the yeast, in that small of a container, it usually only takes a few hours to floc out in the fridge

 

[petrolSpice]

I usually do 48 hours, then in the fridge for about 12 hours, decant, let warm back up, add next step of wort.

After 24 hours I can still see CO2 bubbles rising to the surface, so I don't think that is long enough. I do the periodic shaking, a stir plate might make it ferment out faster.