When would you decant?

[ebaynote]

I was reading the mr malty article
on starters and he said he just dumps
the whole thing in up to a certain point
I'm just curious what that point is.
I could see it being different depending
on the style but just looking for
some general guidance. Thanks.

 

[strat_thru_marshall]

depends on the style are the size of the starter.

If you pitch a 4L starter of highly oxidized wort into your Pils, it will for sure affect the taste of the whole batch. But if you pitch a 1L starter of oxidized wort into your IPA or stout, you wont even taste it. The hops or malt flavor will cover it up.

The wort in your starter will be highly oxidized and contain off flavors because of the stir plate and room temperature fermentation. The more you put into the beer, the more potential it has to affect the flavor of the whole batch. Small starters into highly flavored beers, not so much....big starters (read: Lager) into crisp, clean beers........might make it taste funny.


I usually start my starer a week or so ahead of time, and after it ferments out completely I cold crash it, decant off the spent wort, and only pitch the slurry.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

I only pitch the slurry. I lose very little yeast by decanting all the liquid and don't have to worry about getting off flavors.