Going to try a yeast starter

That 1 minute technique will save a bit of time and a ton of boil off that I get with the 15 minute boil for my starters.

 

Interesting... I think Palmer says boil 10 minutes, some of the books might even say longer than that. I've been boiling 12 minutes. Think of all those minutes I've wasted...

 

Other lessons:
* Unlike the picture, be sure to cover the flask while cooling.
* Learned this last week - don't make a 2L starter in a 2L flask or you will end up with yeast exploding all over your kitchen counter

 

Heck, I leave it on for the boil so it sanitizes on its own...

 

I haven't bothered reading the other posts but your ratio is 100 grams per liter which means 3.5 ounces per liter. My opinion of the easiest way to make one is a buy a 2000ml erlenmeyer flask, use mrmalty.com, and look into buying a stir plate.

 

I have just let it go until the wort is chilled and pitched the whole thing with satisfactory results. Although my best results are when I pitch the intended yeast onto a smaller beer and re-pitch the yeast for a big one. In that case I rack the smaller beer into secondary while the bigger beer wort is chilling after the boil, and use the flocculated yeast at the bottom of the primary.

 

I know what I just posted is a bit off track for what you are doing now, but I had to mention that this worked better for me than pitching directly or any other starter/technique I have tried.

 

If you are only chilling for a few hours, make sure the starter 'beer' actually clears. If it doesn't, and you decant a lot of cells away with your liquid, you'll lose a lot of cells (obviously). But you may also be selecting for the most flocculent (and/or least viable/vital) cells, and potentially pitching a population that may decide not to finish the job. Maybe not a huge risk in the 'first' generation, but I'd still pitch the whole starter rather than decant a significant amount of cells.

 

If it hasn't completely settled, that's what I'd do, yes. Though I'd say 'pitching temp' rather than room temp if they are different.

 

I personally pitch the entire yeast starter at high krausen; pitching when the yeast is active helps the ferment to start quickly.

Below is from the article The Secret to Healthy Yeast: Making a Starter By Jamil Zainasheff Zymurgy March/April 2007. You can download the article from here: http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pages/zymurgy/free-downloads

“I like to pitch starters while they're still very active and as soon as the bulk of reproduction is finished, usually within 12 to 18 hours. This is really convenient, because I can make a starter the morning of the brew day or the night before and it is ready to go by the time the batch of wort is ready.

Of course, if you have a large starter volume in relation to your batch of beer or a starter that was continuously aerated, then you probably don’t want to pitch the entire starter into your wort. Adding a large starter or a heavily oxidized starter to your wort can alter the flavor of the finished beer.”

Cheers!