Going to make my first starter...question

I just shake my demijohn of starter a couple of times a day. The benefit of the stirplate is that you don't have to do that and it is better at oxygenating the wort .

It's not necessary but helpful, one of many such homebrew devices that you'll find tempting you.

If you are so inclined then you can make one easily out of an old computer, there are how-to guides for this.

 

Stirplates aren't necessary, but they are generally faster, and you can get the same yeast mass with less starter wort, as compared to a simple starter or a periodically shaken/swirled starter. I use one, and if it broke, I'd buy another. Or actually, I'd just fix the broken one...they are pretty simple, and if you're a DIYer, they are an easy build.

 

With starters, you have a couple choices... pitch the whole starter into your beer wort, or cold crash and decant most of the liquid before pitching the slurry into your beer wort. I do the latter (which requires an extra day or two), but with a pale ale, you're probably looking at a relatively small starter, so the first option might be fine. To figure out if you need a starter and how big, I recommend this...

http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

Edit: the amount of time needed for a starter to finish making cells (regardless of whether you'll cold crash or not) will depend on the method you use. I generally figure 24 hours for a stirplate starter. It's been a long time since I did shaken starters, but 2-3 days was about right for mine.

 

http://www.stirstarters.com/

Less expensive than most out there, works great, ships fast.

 

I don't use a stir plate, but I wish I did. I've had plenty of luck with just intermittent shaking.

 

Ideally I'll decant the starter. You need about 2/3 more volume when you use this method. Mrmalty.com is a lifesaver here.

I'll make about a 2 liter starter a week before I want to brew. I'll let it ferment out for 3 days with intermittent shaking, and then I'll throw it in the fridge for 4 days. On brew day I'll pull it out of the fridge and pour off the beer immediately. Leave a little so you can loosen the slurry from the bottom of your vessel (I always use a 1 gal growler). I'll let the yeast come up to room temp and pitch when I'm done brewing.

If I need to I'll pitch the whole thing into the wort, but I try to do this with volumes around 1.5 liters and less. (Usually when I have very fresh yeast).

If I weren't as lazy, I'd think these starters would be totally fine for a month but then life gets in the way and on week four I wouldn't brew and start to wonder how old my starters were.

 

Could also make a starter stir plate, pretty easy for cheap.

Quick YouTube yields:

 

Why do you need 2/3 more volume if decanting?

 

If you lose the stir bars for this one, beware as not all the stir bars sold at LHBS's work on all starters. Over time I lost the ones they gave me, bought another one, and it doesn't work on this machine (I presume it's too small). Not a horrible tragedy, but make note.

After looking at this one, I can see that I probably should have built one myself. Not that I'm complaining about this product tho, it works fine and I have no issues with it, other than the minor stir bar thingie.

 

Oh, to help clarify he asked about my shake method. I was referring to needing 2/3 more volume when you intermittently stir vs using a stir plate. Decanting is decanting, regardless of wort volume. Thanks for the catch.