I know you should do a yeast starter a couple of days before brewday. How long should you run your yeast starter on the stir plate for? Seems like an odd question…just curious what some other brewers do with their starters…
Lately, I keep the starter on the stir plate for 24 hours and then cold crash overnight before brew day. I typically make my yeast starter on Friday night to brew Sunday afternoon. I used to do 48 hours on the stir plate. I haven’t noticed any difference in lag time or beer quality since the switch.
+1
Thanks for the info guys…picking up a stir plate this week. Curious how the quality of my beer will improve. Cheers!
depends on the size of the starter and if I need to decant, If I am not decanting I make it 12-18 hours ahead of time, if I need to decant I make it 2 days in advance and then restart it right before brewing
Decant means to chill the starter in the fridge, right? Then when you are about to brew, you put the yeast culture out at room temp, pour off the top portion and pitch the yeast cake, right? You don’t put the yeast back on the stir plate after being in the fridge, do you?
You could, but unless you’re adding more wort there isn’t any need to.
Even with a stir plate, I would make the starter 4-5 days ahead of time. A couple extra days in the fridge won’t hurt anything, and it gives you a buffer in case there’s a problem.
Thanks for the info on the yeast preparation.
+1 Same process here. Plus, I decant all of my starters.
Yeast should have budded once in two to six hours. With most starters that’s all you need. If your going to crash them it’s best to let them finish and start dormancy. That way they wake up more healthy.
[quote]Decant means to chill the starter in the fridge, right?[/quote]No. That’s called cold crashing.[quote] Then when you are about to brew, you put the yeast culture out at room temp, pour off the top portion and pitch the yeast cake, right?[/quote]Pouring off the liquid is decanting. [quote] You don’t put the yeast back on the stir plate after being in the fridge, do you?[/quote]No, you do not. Let it warm up to pitching temperature.
You know, I tried this for the first time on Monday. I made two large lager starters, the were cold crashed for about 36 hours and as I was brewing, after I decanted the liquid, I alternated the two starters on and off the stir plate. It was easier than shaking out all the yeast clumps and I figured it couldn’t hurt to wake the little guys up to get ready for the party. One of the two batches clearly started fermenting overnight.
An few books I’ve read said to aerate the slurry before pitching. Can’t hurt.
Decanting the starter beer, then adding a little fresh wort and running it on the stirplate for 20-30 minutes to aerate just before pitching might be a nice way to wake up the yeast and ensure that they’re healthy and happy.
Next time I will try that with the fresh wort.
[quote=“Shadetree”]Decanting the starter beer, then adding a little fresh wort and running it on the stirplate for 20-30 minutes to aerate just before pitching might be a nice way to wake up the yeast and ensure that they’re healthy and happy.[/quote]I’d never thought of that, but sounds like a good idea. Do you do it in place of, or in addition to, aerating the rest of the wort?
Addition to, you always have to aerate the wort
