[beersk]

Mark or Denny - do you decant or pitch the entire starter?

The entire starter is pitched at high krausen.

[ultravista]

Yeah, I figured it would be difficult to chill and decant an active fermentation.

[narcout]

Yeah, I figured it would be difficult to chill and decant an active fermentation.

It can be done, at least with some strains.

[denny]

Mark or Denny - do you decant or pitch the entire starter?

The entire starter is pitched at high krausen.

Yep.  Or in my close close to high krausen.  I was a littlle late.

[brewinhard]

Yeah, it sounds like typical high krausen time for a fairly fresh pack of yeast and 1 L starter is about 8 hrs time.  So if one wants to pitch at "raging" high krausen it is probably best to make the starter 1st thing in the morning (if that is when you are brewing) and then get the brew day going.  By the end of the day you may be waiting for 1-2 hrs for the krausen to peak and pitch, but oh well.  The wort in the fermenter will be acclimating to its new temp. 

[klickitat jim]

Yeah, it sounds like typical high krausen time for a fairly fresh pack of yeast and 1 L starter is about 8 hrs time.  So if one wants to pitch at "raging" high krausen it is probably best to make the starter 1st thing in the morning (if that is when you are brewing) and then get the brew day going.  By the end of the day you may be waiting for 1-2 hrs for the krausen to peak and pitch, but oh well.  The wort in the fermenter will be acclimating to its new temp.

Exactly what ive found and what I do. Brewing two a day there's not much waiting for the 8 hrs. With lagers (next brew day) I'll be chilling my starter wort overnight in the 50F chest freezer, making starters bright n early, and ball parking high krausen at about 12 hours. We'll see I guess.

[brewinhard]

Do you mean you are making the starter wort the night before and pitching the yeast the following morning into 50F starter wort, then pitching that at high krausen after chilling your main batch to pitching temps?

[klickitat jim]

Do you mean you are making the starter wort the night before and pitching the yeast the following morning into 50F starter wort, then pitching that at high krausen after chilling your main batch to pitching temps?

No, I make my starter wort in a pressure cooker in 1/2 gallon mason jars. So I'll put two of those jars in the cooler the night before to build my starters at temp. I'm just trying to avoid off flavors in the starter from doing them too warm, and at the same time I won't have a temp shock issue when its time to pitch.

[Whiskers]

My last batch was a 1.066 ale that I pitched with an O2-dosed/not stirred starter, made the morning of brew day.  17gal. batch, 3.5L starter.  So, I'm above the below 1.06 boundary where one starts to consider the wort being of the high-gravity sort.  Anyway, the starter was pitched into the wort at 10pm in well-O2-ed wort at 64degF.  Maybe 2min. at 1L/min through a 2um stone at the bottom of a 22gal conical.  There was no CO2 evolution at 9am the next morning.  My standard 2L-pure O2 started, stirplate, stepped to 2gal, pure O2 started, non-stirplate procedure, settled and decanted, would have shown evolution the next morning.  Solid CO2 by 7pm same day.  The yeast was wyeast west yorkie.  Anyway, the first few days were held at 65degF and I had ramped it up to 69degF by day seven.  Held there for another week and have now crashed gradually to 35degF.  Gravity was steady for several days at 1.018.  Was aiming for 1.015-1.016 but there you go.  Samples smell great and are as clear as glass as you might expect.  Mash at 152degF and xtal malt ~8%.  Quite excited about this one.

Going to try O2 dosed, non-stirred, high-krausen starters for the next few batches of ales.  Might try O2-dosed, stirred, high krausen starters too.  Not sure I buy the cell damage from stirring end of things.  I'd like to test the litre starter per 5gal high krausen thing in comparison to my previous, larger volume, decanted method with that being the main difference. 

[ultravista]

I followed this process with for an recently brewed Heady Topper clone. It worked well and I will certainly use this method again for future brews.

I bought a 5L Pyrex media bottle on eBay for $40 shipped.

[ultravista]

I have followed Mark's "shaken, not stirred" starter for two brews now, both with the Vermont Ale Strain or Conan. It was a breeze with the 5L bottle and results were just as good as the starter but with less hassle.

I do not pitch immediately but chill and decant.

[RPIScotty]

I do not pitch immediately but chill and decant.

Kind of defeats the purpose, no?

Glad it worked out for you though.

[ultravista]

Not sure if it entirely defeats the purpose - not pitching immediately. I understood this process as an optimal yeast building method vs. stir plate. Pitching @ high K is preferred but not required. Foaming the wort & yeast give it the oxygen needed for a healthy build.

Perhaps I misunderstood.

[RPIScotty]

I was always under the assumption that pitching at or around HK was the essence of the method. Yeast activity and replication peaks there.

I know Jim, in his 1LO2HK starters, sort of confirms this by straying from the method of preparation but still pitching at HK.

If it works for you doing it that way then there is nothing wrong about it. Results are what matters.

[Phil_M]

FWIW, I used the shaken not stirred method for my NB dry Irish stout that's fermenting for St. Patrick's day.

I've brewed this kit several times. This time, I followed the method and pitched just as the yeast was hitting high krausen. I've never seen such a rapid fermentation from 1084 before, even had to use a blowoff tube. None of my prior batches even approached needing that.

Could be something wild got into the beer, still haven't tasted it. Also, beer was being fermented at 62^oF.