Yeast Starter Question

[CarlosHernandez]

Hey everyone, new brewer here. Been reading a lot about yeast starters lately and realize how important they are to a good beer. My question is if I make a 2 Liter starter, when it comes time to pitch, do I pitch all 2 Liters? Or do I dump most of the liquid then pitch the slurry?

Also I read in Jamil's book that using a 5 Liter starter is good if you don't want to use extra packs of yeast. When it comes time to pitch, do you again pitch the whole thing? Any help or feedback would be appreciated. Thanks!

[BenTheBrewer]

I am not an expert on starters. As a matter of fact I just made my first starter. I was so freaked out that I posted a thread about how much it smelled and how nervous I was about pitching it. From what I learned, it's all a matter of opinion and style of beer. Some people pitch the entire starter (I did) and some cold crash the starter for a few days and dump or decant the liquid off the top of the yeast then pitch the slurry. That seems to be the perfered method in light lagers or less flavorful ales... There was a stress on the BrewStrong Starter brewcast that starters are about the yeast not the "Beer" in the starters. With that logic I am going to start cold crashing my starters for a day or so to ensure that the yeast has all dropped to the bottom of the starter, remove the liquid, bring it back up to pitching temp, then pitch. You don't want to shock them by pitching 40° yeast into a 75° wort.

[pfooti]

You can definitely do both. I prefer cold-crashing and decanting mainly because I tend to brew moderately high-gravity pale ales (1.070-1.085 OG), which means I usually have a big starter in a 5 gallon batch, which can significantly change the taste of your beer. If I need a 1L or smaller starter, I'll pitch the whole thing. As I understand it, if you pitch right at high activity (and pitch the whole thing), you'll get very short lag time- your yeast will go in running strong. The possibly dangerous thing would be crashing the yeast at the wrong time, basically making them go dormant before they built up any glycogen reserves and making it harder to reactivate when they warm back up. I don't know how much of an issue this is with cold-crashing and pitching right away, though. JZ's book was on my christmas list, but nobody got it for me. Picking it up on Friday.

[maxwell]

I've had good success chilling the starter overnight in the fridge, then decanting and letting it slowly come up to room temperature while I'm finishing my brew. Smell and taste your starter, especially if it has been on a stir plate, and see if you want your beer to smell and taste like that.

[mthhurley]

Ditto to what maxwell said. I always chill, decant, warm up.

[mordantly]

ferment. step up if need be. crash. decant. smell it! taste it! swirl n' pitch.

[spiderwrangler]

Part of the reasoning behind the chilling and decanting is that if you've been continually aerating your wort, the yeast have will have produced an entirely different suite of secondary compounds, things you may not want in high proportion in your beer. So decanting off that spent wort gives you the yeast and not the other stuff. If you are doing this, you want to let the yeast pretty much finish out what they are doing in the starter before chilling. If you rush them, they may not drop down at optimal health, while letting them finish out the starter gives them a chance to build up the reserves they need. If you are not going to chill and decant, you would want to pitch at high krausen when yeast are rocking at maximum activity.

[CarlosHernandez]

Good stuff guys! Really helpful. Thanks.