yes, another question about starters

[Flyerman]

i know this has been asked to death, but i heard on an archived show that it's better to decant the beer before pitching the yeast. but i think i saw on jamil's site that he pitches the entire starter, everything. which is better. i would tend to believe jamil more, if that is truly what he does. so, which is it, the whole thing or just the yeast.

on another note, i think i may have come up with a poor man's (common brewer) solution to a stir plate. instead of a stir plate, use a common drill, or even cheaper, one of those battery operated protein powder mixers that they have at GNC. with the drill, i have a small diameter wooden dowel from wally world - about 27 cents - smoothly cut out a groove and insert a piece of plastic, to start a whirlpool effect. sanitizing everything, insert the dowel into the starter vessel, enclosing the opening with tin foil, put the drill on low speed, and let it do it's thing. at the same time, insert an air/oxygen hose into the opening next to the dowel. for the protein mixer part, same thing, but i think this might be a little more sanitary. any thoughts, ideas, improvements?

[Bugeater]

On the question of decanting the starter, you will find mixed opinions on that, few based on empirical findings.

Sometimes I pitch the whole starter, sometimes I don't. I like the idea of decanting the starter as it allows you to pour off the "beer" that doesn't match your brew and is probably oxidized.

Not decanting, probably leaves in various nutrients from the hot & cold break from boiling the starter. I haven't checked Jamil's site about that, but that is what I would assume. Also the volume of the starter compared to the volume of the wort you are pitching it into is probably small enough that you won't get any off flavors from the starter wort.

Two things determine whether or not I decant, time and starter volume. If I wait too long before doing my starter and don't have time to crash cool and decant, I will pitch the whole thing. Also, I am more likely to decant if the final volume of the starter is over 1.5-2 liters. For big starters, I will usually start out with 1 or 2 liters, let it ferment out, decant and then add another 1 or 2 liters.

If I am going to decant just before pitching, I will normally pitch a very "thin" slurry. I only decant 1/2 - 2/3 of the spent wort off the yeast rather than leave only enough to get the yeast to pour like most of the posted and published advice will state to do.

While I have not closely documented the results, my impression is that it doesn't make much difference either way. I just don't feel right about pouring more than 1.5 - 2 liters of spent starter wort into my beer.

Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company

[Milton B]

I'm a little perplexed about starters too. We were pretty ignorant to the starter thing the first two batches and only dumped the yeast in. The fermentation started pretty fast and now I'm wondering why is it that you have to do a starter? Where can I find more information about these starters?

Milt

[Henning1966]

Milt check out jamils site it gives lots of info on the subject
http://www.mrmalty.com/

[Milton B]

OK, thanks for that link.

Do you need to do starters for only all grain, or do you do them for all brews?

Milt

[bub]

Starters don't care if it is extract or all grain... they just see sugar and water not how it got there.
BUB

[mykafone]

I LOVE starter questions? Why?? Because nobody knows yet everyone does.. The general rule of thumb I guess is "The bigger the beer the more important the starter."

Like BUG - - - sometimes I decant - Sometimes I don't...................

[Thirsty Mallard]

Milt, have no fear. At your stage, starters are not neccessary, and frankly I don't encourage them. There is so much else to work on perfecting before you worry about doing starters. Not unless you are making a really big heavy beer with a big starting gravity. Of course, if you are anything like I was when I started, you are just doing a few basic styles and you should be just fine without a starter. Hell, I don't even ever use starters now (too much work and I'm pragmatic... just pitch and wait).

Get the beer process down, then start playing with yeast if you want. Yeast is a whole ballgame in itself! But that is just my 2 cents.