Paranoid, perhaps silly question here: Been brewing one gallon batches mostly, so no need for a starter. Had half a tube of an English Ale yeast I decided to use a starter to increase cell count for a 3-gallon batch I was doing. Used a foam stopper and no spin plate (did agitate the flask throughout the day). It looked like I got some growth (12 hours), and I was hopeful as I pitched it. The fermentation started much quicker and with more "fervor" than I've seen before. I understand this is kind of the point, but is there any other (bad) reason for such an increase in gaseous output?
No bad reason I can think of for making a starters. The extra off gassing of Co2 isn't anything to be worried about. If you have enough headspace for a vigorous fermentaton, and have your temps under control, you should be fine.
Hmmm... The temperature is running a little higher than expected right now, and it was a little high when I added the yeast, so maybe that has something to do with it.
Temp control is crucial . . . use extreme measures if needed to keep temp in the proper range. Here are two excellent articles on yeast starters . . . if you understand this you have it made. Mr. Malty also has a decent yeast calculator, but I prefer yeastcalculator.com. Understanding yeast has been the single most important improvement in my brewing.
Good reading. I don't think I had enough information to do a good calculation, but probably could have done a decent estimate. I think if this batch comes out less than optimal, I am think temperature might be the key factor. The yeast starter was done at mid-70s. I pitched in at around 80, and the beer is running at about 75 during fermentation in the coolest place I have for it (most my batches run about 70-72 in the same place when generating their own heat).
