Yeast is fermenting, but I may have done the starter wrong.

[beerisking]

Hey everyone.
So I made a 10 gallon batch of an IPA last weekend with an OG of 1.075. On the Wednesday before, I made a starter which consisted of 3/4 c. DME and 1L. of water, added a vial of WLP001 and let it go. On Friday, the day before I brewed, I made two batches of the same starter ratio and split the original starter between them. Left this go 24 hrs before I added to the cooled wort. Fermenting fine on Sunday, I believe, but wondering how to improve my starters for 10 gallon batches of mid to high gravity brews. I see tons of different ways to do starters, I know I should have the OG of the starter lower ( mine was close to 1.07) and I need to learn to use the yeast calculators, but how wrong was what I did. Thanks for the input.

Greg

 

[sandyeggoxj]

A stir plate is a great addition. Also, practice with the calculators and then be consistent and use the same calculator. Consistency is huge with yeast stuff. Also, 1040 is a good ballpark for started wort gravity. Weighing the DME is preferable to measuring by volume.

Yeastcalculator.com is what I like to use.

 

[beerisking]

I will be buying the stir plate this weekend. I will be brewing next weekend, a stout or porter, not sure yet. Will be doing 10 gallons again. Should I make 2 starters like I did last time (with a lower OG and a stir plate) or buy 2 yeast vials and propagate each starter one time?

 

[sandyeggoxj]

What is the og of your stout/porter? Do you have a flask? What size is it?

 

[duboman]

I will be buying the stir plate this weekend. I will be brewing next weekend, a stout or porter, not sure yet. Will be doing 10 gallons again. Should I make 2 starters like I did last time (with a lower OG and a stir plate) or buy 2 yeast vials and propagate each starter one time?

IMO, it doesn't really matter. If you have the ability to split the starter with good measuring you could make one starter, split it into two vessels, cold crash each and pitch individually, otherwise, yes, start two separate vials/packs and work each one accordingly.

The only thing to consider is if you are splitting your 10 gallon batch to make two separate beers and then you need to account for each beer individually

 

[beerisking]

That's what I was wondering. Does propagating the yeast starter once, growing for 24-48 hours, then taking that starter and dividing it in half and adding to a new starter sufficient enough to account for two ' separate ' 5 gallon batches. And on the cold crashing, I see some people do that, others just decant and use the slurry, and some just pitch a 24 hour starter. It seems like the latter is easiest, which is what I did but may not be the best.

The next batch will be a 10 gallon stout with an OG of 1.08, if all goes as planned. I have a 2000ml flask. I am willing to buy two yeast vials/packs, but would love to save the money if possible.

 

[sandyeggoxj]

http://www.homebrewfinds.com/2014/04/free-2-liter-erlenmeyer-flask-with-stir.html

If you don't have the stirplate ordered yet.

 

[duboman]

If by separate you mean different gravity then no but if you mean a singke gravity beer split in half then the starter would be for that gravity and batch size. You're still calculating for 10 gallons at x gravity, you're just splitting everything in half

 

[beerisking]

I mean the latter, splitting the same batch. And thanks sandyeggoxj for the link to the stir plate. Great deal of which I ordered one.

I will try the Yeastcalc website and see if I can get it to make sense for a split 10 gallon batch. Thanks again for the help.