Comments on: Stir Plates and Growing Brewing Yeast Quickly

By: dan

dan — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 12:53:08 +0000

i have been culturing from chimay tripel…
and a maredsous….
the most wonderfoul beers ther is…

By: Larry

Larry — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 05:25:09 +0000

I’m not convinced this is okay, but if it tastes okay and smells okay, then it might be worth chancing it. Usually sediment covers the entire bottom.

A new pack of yeast is cheap insurance for a healthy brew.

What kind of beer was it you are culturing from?

By: dan

dan — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 00:56:03 +0000

sorry i mistake the green spotted for places were no sediment where… color blindness??
but im sure as the fermentation kept going on the top of the bubbles were brown areas…
the amell is good of an fermenting beer…
anyone?? its a bad sign??
or maybe its normall…??
thank you dan…

By: Larry

Larry — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 06:18:18 +0000

Green spots are a very bad sign. I have never seen green spots in any of my starters.

By: dan

dan — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 10:30:10 +0000

if i collected yeasts from a bottle…
and ther is a green spotts on the bottom of the starter… it means that i my yeasts went bad??

By: Larry

Larry — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 20:20:51 +0000

The reason for decanting is to minimize the flavor impact from the starer on your beer. Without decanting you are diluting the final product with unhopped wort made from DME (not so tasty). 2 liters is about half a gallon, which is about 10% of a 5 gallon batch. That means your IBU, color, and flavor are all dropping by that amount if you don’t decant.

If the yeast in the starter has settled, I decant 80-90% of the fluid on top, swirl the yeast, then pour. If the starter is still cloudy and very active then I pour the whole thing in and say ‘what the heck’. It depends on how far along the starter is, but I try to start mine early so that I have the option of decanting.

Great question. Cheers!

Cheers!

By: Andy

Andy — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 15:24:51 +0000

Is it really necessary to dump out (decant) most of the liquid from the starter? Is this done more when it’s a big (2L) starter? Also, is it just a matter of dumping most of the liquid out, swirling the yeast around, and then pitching it?

Thanks, and a very good article. I got a stir plate today, by the way. Here’s to better beer!

By: Rob

Rob — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 02:07:17 +0000

Your wort will transform to a creamy brown pastel. Also you will see it go through stages of bubbles rising and foam to no bubbles and no foam when it is done. I ferment mine out in about about 48 hours then chill.

By: Push Eject

Push Eject — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:50:17 +0000

@Richard – the starter will grow very cloudy when the yeast are most active

Cheers!

By: Rob

Rob — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:07:06 +0000

With any starter you may or may not have a krausen. If you are using a stir plate you can visibly see the increase in yeast population, yes it is that profound.

I take a gravity reading after 24-48 hours, to do this you really need to have a refractometer because you will only need a few drops of the wort. The only way to determine whether or not the starter is fermented out, is by taking a gravity reading.

You can find quality refractometers on Ebay shipped to you for $35 or so.