Yeast starter for 10 gals

[petemoss]

Hey gang,

With all of my brews to date except the last one, I have done five gallon batches. I would usually create a yeast starter with say 1500 ml of water and 150g of DME. These all worked great.

With the last batch I did a 10 gallon batch. On it I did a 1500 ml starter as above, then I chilled it, poured off the beer, and pitched that yeast onto another 1500 ml starter. It worked good and took care of the batch, but it also blew the lid off of the second starter.

So, while this seems to work, it is inconvenient and potentially messy. I was wondering, if I did a single 3000 ml starter using one does of yeast, would that do well, or would that overwhelm the single pack of yeast? On 10 gallon batches how do y'all normally handle getting the yeast up to snuff while using only a single dose of yeast?

Thanks everyone.

 

[Yesfan]

Hey gang,

With all of my brews to date except the last one, I have done five gallon batches. I would usually create a yeast starter with say 1500 ml of water and 150g of DME. These all worked great.

With the last batch I did a 10 gallon batch. On it I did a 1500 ml starter as above, then I chilled it, poured off the beer, and pitched that yeast onto another 1500 ml starter. It worked good and took care of the batch, but it also blew the lid off of the second starter.

So, while this seems to work, it is inconvenient and potentially messy. I was wondering, if I did a single 3000 ml starter using one does of yeast, would that do well, or would that overwhelm the single pack of yeast? On 10 gallon batches how do y'all normally handle getting the yeast up to snuff while using only a single dose of yeast?

Thanks everyone.

I've only done two 10 gallon batches, but for me it was simply doubling my starter for that batch. If one 5 gallon batch required a 1.5L starter, then the 10 gallon version would get a 3L starter right off the bat. I didn't do two separate 1500mL starters. I just kept the water to DME ratio the same (10:1) as with the starters for 5 gallons but up them for the 10 gallon versions.

 

[liquidcourage]

Check out a calculator like this one. It tells you how much you need to pitch. http://www.brewersfriend.com/yeast-pitch-rate-and-starter-calculator/

 

[BrewinBromanite]

Hey gang,



With all of my brews to date except the last one, I have done five gallon batches. I would usually create a yeast starter with say 1500 ml of water and 150g of DME. These all worked great.



With the last batch I did a 10 gallon batch. On it I did a 1500 ml starter as above, then I chilled it, poured off the beer, and pitched that yeast onto another 1500 ml starter. It worked good and took care of the batch, but it also blew the lid off of the second starter.



So, while this seems to work, it is inconvenient and potentially messy. I was wondering, if I did a single 3000 ml starter using one does of yeast, would that do well, or would that overwhelm the single pack of yeast? On 10 gallon batches how do y'all normally handle getting the yeast up to snuff while using only a single dose of yeast?



Thanks everyone.

Lol. I've only needed to step up a starter once. Same result, went crazy. I did the step up in plastic gallon water jug, with a foam stopper, and the foam was saturated and fizzed constantly. Had to replace it with a clean one before I was ready to chill it.

 

[ViciousFishes]

Doesn't answer your question directly, but I really like splitting my 10g batches across two yeasts. So the process is effectively the same as for 5g batches - you just do it twice. That does mean I need to have the first starter going by Tuesday in order to give me enough runway to get both done and cold crashed.

 

[petemoss]

Thanks guys. That calculator is really cool. After playing with it I think I should be able to determine my actual needs and go from their. I did go ahead and order a 5 liter flask though. Hopefully that will take care of some of the mess if I have to go big.

@ViciousFishes That is a cool idea too. Since I have to use two 5 gallon fermenters anyway, it would be pretty neat to try the same recipe with two different yeasts.

Thanks all.