Two step starter questions

I haven't done a step starter, but believe you want to go bigger. I think if cell density is too great it will inhibit growth.

I would have decanted the excess liquid into a measuring cup or similar to find out the volume left behind vs dumping the yeast. Boil water and DME in pot, cool and pour in flask.

 

Starter size depends on OG and freshness of yeast mostly. I use this calculator: https://www.brewersfriend.com/yeast-pitch-rate-and-starter-calculator/
But there a few others that work nice.

Measuring wort volume for 2nd step: Google is wonderful thing- just use it to convert L to cups. Then boil in a separate pot, cool, and add back to starter.

I find the easiest way to add DME to flask is do before water is too hot. The steam from water is what clumps it.

Also, do you boil in flask? Because Fermcap or other foam inhibitor is very helpful in preventing boil overs.

Good luck!

 

You almost never want to make a two-step starter in equal sizes. Yeast do not grow linearly, i.e. 1L + 1L ≠ 2L. Your goal is to optimize inoculation rate (number of yeast cells to starter wort). The most efficient inoc rate in the range of 40 - 125 million cells/ml of wort. This is where you get the most bang for your buck and with DME at $4/lb it saves you some dough.

Don't let those weird numbers confuse you, the calculator does all the hard work. Use the calculator at Brewers Friend or yeastcalculator.com and they will have this figure in the fine print (look hard, it's there). Simply input your OG, quantity, and yeast date to get your target number of yeast cells. Then play around with the starter steps (looking at the inoc rate) to reach your target. You'll compute the proper step sizes with a few simple trail/error inputs. Typically it will be something like .5L followed by 1.2L. There is some wiggle room and I try not to have the second step exceed 1.4L to give me more headspace. If you like to make a little extra to save for the next brew day, here's where you compute that amount.

Caveat: Both of these calculators (and Brewcipher) have variable "stir plate settings", based on different experimental growth rates. You'll wonder which one to use . . . no one can tell you, it will be influenced by your equipment, temp, and other variables unique to your process. After a few times you'll get a feel for what works best.

Stirring for 36 hours is slight overkill but will not hurt anything, ditto for 36 hours of chilling. Who told you to use a double boiler to boil DME? The easiest way to "load" the flask is to boil (and cool) the DME in a separate sauce pan. Sanitize your flask once and pour the wort in through a funnel. After the first step is complete and you have de-canted, pour your second-step wort (cooled) in the same flask. That's right, the yeast never leave the flask until brew day when you pitch to primary. I'll go out on a limb and bet that somewhere in your kitchen you have another vessel to measure quantities. If you have yeast nutrient use it . . . ditto oxygen.

This is so easy a Cave Man can do it.

 

Just curious, but how much yeast did you pitch into the original starter and what final volume were you aiming for? What volume is your main beer?

 

If you're just eye-balling it, a fourth of a gallon or one liter is a pretty happy place for most "normal" ales.

 

if you are making a 5 gal batch, a 1 litre starter with no stir plate should be fine for all but the most gravitas beers, imho.

This assumes yeast born on date < 3months properly handled

 

Yes, normally the second step would be larger than the first. With something like YeastCalc, you essentially have to decide on an inoculation rate for the first step, and there's probably help/notes to help you do that. Or if you don't want to be bothered with that, BrewCipher automatically recommends the number of steps and step sizes. You can manipulate that by changing min/max inoculation rate parameters, but you can also just leave the defaults alone and not have to think about inoculation rates/relative step size proportions at all.

Just make sure everything that touches the yeast/wort is sanitary. That's about all there is to it. And don't make your starters in a peach orchard.