Yeast starter sugar?

[CorneliusAlphonse]

i've never used a starter (how embarassing! it definitely has effects on my beer, and i'm planning to use one with my next big beer). But yeah, I've heard you decant the liquid and just get the yeast in there.

but then again, other people say to pitch at high krausen, which would mean not decanting, so im not really sure.

[amartin]

I usually just build the starter into the recipe, and pitch the whole thing at high krausen.

[canuck]

I typically do 1.5L starters with 150g of DME about 48 hours before brew day. I cold crash it and decant the wort before pitching.

[Jayme]

I think the figure I've read is that if your starter is less then 10% of the total batch volume, you can pitch it. I however do not do that - the wort is oxidized and shitty. We usually just crash it in the fridge over night, decant and pitch. I also strongly recommend to use the mrmalty calculator and base your starter on that. 1L is a starting point but it's rarely enough. Plus again, the necessary number of cells is dependent on so many things. If you're spending the money, I say just do it right. It's not like it adds an extra step.

[sleepyjamie]

do you guys match your starters with the same OG of the batch you are brewing?


nvm. mr malty recommends below 1.040

[mr x]

That's the idea - 1.040 or less.

[Jayme]

No I don't match the OG - if you do a high grav starter the yeast will be stressed and not perform well - same reason you shouldn't reuse yeast from a high gravity beer. The 1.030-1.040 range is ideal.

[sleepyjamie]

ok so ill make a yeast starter for the next batch according to mr malty.

1 - measure amount of water based on my malty.
2 - add DME to get ~ 1.030-040 OG
3 - ferment
4 - crash cool starter
5 - decant and measure yeast amount (in mL).
6 - then pitch.

[Jayme]

Good plan - I wouldn't worry about measuring the yeast after decanting though - unless you do a cell count I'm not sure what you would really gain there.