Can an oxygenation kit be used to make a yeast starter? Or is a stir plate or shaking still required?
Think the goal of the stirplate. To create oxygen for your yeast .if you add oxygen. Only and not the stirplate. You got to shake the flask. My thought stay with the stirplate
I believe an initial shot of oxygen is great/ optimal but from that point supplemental o2ās role is done. You need time and agitation. Some brewers use the shake /agitate method every time they walk by, and others use stir plates.
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Agree with @voodoo_donut
The goal of a stirplate is not really to add oxygen but to kep the yeast in constant contact with the wort. Agitation is the key to speeding up the fermentation.
Iāve been using the shaken not stirred method and have been VERY pleased. Hereās all you need:
1). One gallon jug sanitized
2) 100g DME
3) 1L water
Bring your water to boil. Add DME. Boil 15 mins. Cool. Add to jug and shake the living sh!+ out of it. Shake it until it is completely foam. Pitch yeast.
You want to do this 12-18 hours before brewing. Try to pitch at high krausen. Thereās a very good hypothesis that some people are perceiving off flavors which are actually caused by shear stress on the yeast. I too have become a HUGE believer that this is true.
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Ditto on all of that.
Just saying, I read your post about this styleā¦ It works great for me too! As far as theory, I think its maybe a combo of O2 and suspension ā¦ Sneezles61
I like the idea of pitching at high krauesen and I have with 1L starters but if itās a bigger starter for lagers I just feel like itās too much volume to pitch 3-4L.
I just spent the last hour+ reviewing the posts on AHA forum on the āshaken not stirredā method, after reading @loopie_beer 's postā¦ ā¦it challenges a lot of assumptions we adhere to, thatās for certain. I try to keep an open mind and not be a Luddite so I will be trying this with my next starter. No stirplate, no decanting, no coldcrashing, no building up stepped starters, no shots of pure oxygen. Disclaimer, I never used oxygen trying to avoid that hassle and cost. I use the mixstir in both starter flasks and wort to oxygenate. I also always pitched at high krauesen even with larger starters for lagers even though I shared @dannyboy58 's concerns about Pitching that volume of spent wort. It is a different paradigm to wrap your head around. The GOAL is not to pitch the most yeast, but to pitch about 200 billion cells of prime healthy active yeast that are going to double every 90 minutesā¦
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A question. Iām picturing using a plastic sanitized one gallon milk jug which would be lightweight, easy to find and replace, and has a handle. Some of the home brewers were still trying to use their erlenmeyers for this method which I think makes no sense! A slippery missile which limits the foam air liquid interfaceā¦
A bit of confusion because in some of the posts s.cerevesiae(the proponent of the shaken not stirred method ) kept referring to some type of glass one gallon vessel for this.
I will often use a one gallon pickle jar for large one step shaken starters. There are also larger canning type jars available. These large ones arenāt meant for canning or hot water processing but have the lid and ring for sealing.
I keep the jar close to the body when turning most of the starter wort into foam.
One gallon carboys work wonderfulā¦and i have yet experience the lag times i used to experience after pitchingā¦even at lager temps.
You can use any vessel as long as you can effectively sanitize it. I use a 5L media bottle for 5gal batches and a 10L media bottle for 10gal batches.
A gallon apple juice works well as well.
Ok, thanks. Iām going to go with a one gallon plastic jug used just for RO water previously. That seems like an ideal vessel for the āShake it like it owes you money and pitch at high krauesen methodā.
Just curious, @loopie_beer , why are you using a larger media bottle for 10 gallon batches? I thought the whole point was the irrelevance, within reason, of the pitch size ?
From my understanding you want at least a 1:4 ratio of liquid to volume. I do 2L starters for 10gal.
Iāve had very good results with a growler too. I can very easily shake the living bejesus into it, and not slobber or lose hold of it. Sneezles61
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Yes, please try to keep the slobbering to a minimum, this is a respectable place 
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Ok, here goes nothinā ! Pitched my āshaken not stirredā yeast starter into 5G of 1.060 wortā¦from using a fancy stir plate and a pair of Erlenmeyers to a plastic jug and foil!
I was able to convert the starter wort into a cloud of foam with this vessel.
Smelled great and very active appearing starter. Now we waitā¦
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I think youāll be surprised. Let us know how it turns out.
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I do enjoy the ease of this method! Sneezles61
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