[cptnpenguin]

So I made a starter according to my homebrew stores instructions last night with WL's San Diego Super Yeast in a growler. I know after about 2 days I cool it to drop the yeast out and then pull off liquid and leave cake in there. 2 questions, A) how long can I leave the cake in the growler (refrigerated) after drawing off liquid? B) when I'm ready to pitch the cake does it really just easily pour out of growler or do I need to do something tricky to get it out?


"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."

[Stevie]

If you are going to wait, you should also wait to decant. A week or two should be fine, but after that another starter would be ideal.


When decanting, you want to leave enough liquid above to thin out the slurry enough for it to pour easily. I aim for about 50/50 ratio. Some I know will decant the full amount and use wort from the new batch to swirl it up.

[cptnpenguin]

Ah, that makes sense. I was wondering how I was going to get that out of there. Using new wort seems like a slightly unnecessary step that could potentially go wrong


"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."

[Slowbrew]

Ah, that makes sense. I was wondering how I was going to get that out of there. Using new wort seems like a slightly unnecessary step that could potentially go wrong


"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."

I decant as much liquid as I can and then add about quart of new wort when it gets cool enough to not kill the yeast.  I get it mixed up and let it sit until I've finished chilling the wort and taking samples and aerating.  Then when I add the starter it has had some time to get woken back up and ready to go. 

No idea if this is better worse than any other way but it works for me.\

Paul

[brewinhard]

In the best case scenario, after cold crashing your starter for 24-48 hrs you should be pitching it into your chilled wort.  Don't forget to allow it to warm up a bit out of the fridge, but ideally you want to pitch a few degrees colder yeast into your wort.  Sanitize the opening of the growler and carefully decant most of the wort except for a small amount that will help you swirl up the yeast cake into suspension.  Then resanitize (yes, I am anal) the opening again, and pour your yeast into your chilled wort. 

Nice job making a starter as that goes a long way for improving the quality of your beers...

[denny]

FWIW, I haven't found any reason for or benefit to, warming up the yeast before pitching.

[HoosierBrew]

FWIW, I haven't found any reason for or benefit to, warming up the yeast before pitching.

+1

[brewinhard]

When I say "warm it up" I more or less meant that I pull out the whole starter and let it sit out while I am racking the chilled wort over to the fermenter.  So, I doubt it really warms up that much at all...but I do believe it is good practice to pitch cold yeast into chilled (yet warmer than the yeast) wort.