Yeast starter - step up or no step up

[TimelessCynic]

I am going to be making a big beer and am now questioning the wisdom of the step up yeast starter.

Why would adding volumes of wort at different stages be better for yeast propagation then just all at once.

It was my understanding that yeast propagate when oxygen and sugar is available. After the oxygen is eaten up they start to use the sugar to make alcohol and CO2.

I have a stirplate so oxygen is always being introduced.

I have a 5 liter flask so was planning to do a 3.5 liter starter. Cold crashing to see if i grew enough yeast then perhaps doing another 3.5 liter starter.

Stepping up a liter at a time would take WAY too long.


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[eluterio]

So your question is can you just do one big starter.

Answer is Yes.

Im no expert but some say that doing a smaller starter first allows the yeast to get a healthy start. You can decant or just add more wort for the final amount to ensure you have enough healthy yeast.

You can do one massive starter 3.5 liters or more if your on a time crunch. Just make sure you make the proper amount or slightly above. Use Mr. Malty or other yeast calculators.

Really no need to cold crash it if you do one massive yeast starter. I would however when you pitch, you need to have the starter close to the temp of what your wort is at to not shock them. Hope this helps!

 

[TimelessCynic]

It does help. Thank you.


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[flars]

It is better to start small if your yeast is old. Old yeast will begin healthier cell growth if the starter wort is 1.010.

 

[TimelessCynic]

1.010 is pretty thin.

My yeast is new. Just building it to super levels.

Good info though. If I have any 1 year old cultures i will know to start with a small 1.010 starter then step up to my usual 1.030


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[Hermit]

Check out the brewer's friend calculator. I think it gave me a higher cell count when doing a one step starter. This was based on Kai's own experiments I believe.

 

[Hello]

I step up because my flask is only 2L. Also, I read a healthy start is good so reducing the amount of sugar that needs to be eaten allows the yeast to ease into doing their job.

 

[XPLSV]

Chris White, in his book, Yeast: The Practical Guide to Beer Fermentation, summarizes his experiments on starter size with relation to inoculation rate and yield factor. The sweet spot for efficiency is roughly a 1.5 liter starter size resulting in a yield factor of 7.7. Efficiency decreases for starters larger and smaller. The innoculation rate yields also have a sweet spot that tops out between 50 to 100 millions/ml in initial yeast concentration. Now, you can get an overall end result of more yeast as you increase your initial starter size, but at some point, your results become more along the lines of fermenting beer rather than growing yeast. The book is full of excellent info and the discussion of the starter experiments runs several pages. In general, a proper starter of any size will grow your yeast population and a stir plate will give you added benefit. Sweet spot for wort SG is 1.030 to 1.050...above or below that and you are not preparing the yeast for the proper environment and you could be stressing them inadvertently on the high end, even for a high gravity beer. Another comment on the book: there is a lot of good info in there and after reading it, I came to realize that a lot of homebrewers, to include many on this forum, regularly accept and recommend practices that will not contribute to a better beer.

 

[TimelessCynic]

and after reading it, I came to realize that a lot of homebrewers, to include many on this forum, regularly accept and recommend practices that will not contribute to a better beer.

So funny but so true.

As yeast goes I tend to always overpitch. I stopped using mr malty when i visually had an idea of how much yeast to use. However i may revive him for this project since it is a 11% lager. I think two 3 liter volumes of wort on 1 healthy wyeast pack should be sufficient.

As for practices that don't contribute to better beer. I have done away with several of them. Over sanitizing bottles, yeast rinsing, secondaries, excessive aging, filtering and some others i can't remember.



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[eluterio]

So funny but so true.

As yeast goes I tend to always overpitch. I stopped using mr malty when i visually had an idea of how much yeast to use. However i may revive him for this project since it is a 11% lager. I think two 3 liter volumes of wort on 1 healthy wyeast pack should be sufficient.

As for practices that don't contribute to better beer. I have done away with several of them. Over sanitizing bottles, yeast rinsing, secondaries, excessive aging, filtering and some others i can't remember.



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Thats a BIG beer! I would brew a small SG 1.040-1.045 3-4 gallon batch of a light lager or experimental lager. Do your 3 liter starter and pitch. Then once that is done pitch on top of that yeast cake. or pull out the slurry put it in the fridge and with in the next 2 days brew and pitch.

IMHO the 3L starter is not enough for a big 11% beer. If it was a 4-5% Id say go for it. Ive done this with plenty of Ales did one 3 gallons make a 1L starter pitched for a 4.5% beer then used that yeast and for a beer that was 9% no fusel alcohols.

Again my 2 pennies.

 

[Beer-lord]

I learned alot from that book and think my beers are a bit better because of my changes in yeast starters. Actually, I can't brew enough to use all the yeast I have gotten from starters.