If the shaker continually aerates the starter, will you still pitch the entire thing rather than chilling and decanting the supernatant?
Neither a shaker, nor a stirrer continuously aerates a culture. Very little to no O
2 enters a flask after a culture starts to produce CO
2. CO
2 heavier than air, and the culture is under positive pressure; therefore, air is not entering the flask.
With that said, I do not plan to use the shaker in continuous mode. I plan to experiment to see if there is a difference between a starter made with my method and one that is shaken for a period of time and left to incubate.