william_shakes_beer
Well-Known Member
I have been harvesting from split starters for about 3 years now. This brewing season I noticed that all my strains now take 48 hours to show signs of fermentation, and flocculate much more quickly then before. Is it possible that my harvest process of pour/crash/decant/repeat that yeilds a tube 2/3 full is selecting for the most flocculant cells and shifting my strains? They all ferment fine, so this is not a problem, just wondering if anyone else has noticed this phenomenon. I ask because yesterday I did a double batch. Cooled and pitched half the starter to the first fermenter, then stepped the starter while I cooled the second half. The starter step took off within an hour or so.