Yeast starter cold crash

IMO always decant, as the starter beer is not part of your recipe and was not fermented under the same conditions as your main beer will likely be.

Others will say go ahead and pitch the whole thing and that it makes no difference. This defies logic IMO, unless they took great pains to make the starter exactly like they will make the beer... temperature control, O2 exclusion, etc. In reality, I doubt very many people are actually doing this, though some claim to.

ETA: One liter added to 5 gallons of beer wort may not sound like much, but that's 5% of the total volume.

 

Yes, if the yeast is very flocculent. More like 2-3 days if less flocculent.

 

80% of my batches are made with a 1L starter pitched completely. I don't think anyone who does this will say "it makes no difference" compared to only pitching yeast in the same beer.

Of course it makes a difference. A non-decanted starter makes mo' betta beer! It's an advanced brewing technique that requires strategic planning, thinking out of the box and mad brewing skillz. That said, beginners should chill and decant until they fully understand how to pitch the entire starter.

If a completely pitched starter produced off flavors or anything undesirable, I wouldn't continue to do it.

 

I pitch my entire starter and produce tasty beer that way.

Each homebrewer gets to decide what process/method is best for their individual homebreweries.

Cheers!

 

Some processes are better than others. When two home brewers disagree on a best process, one is usually wrong. The hard part is proving which, especially when everyone thinks their own beers are the tits.

 

And every homebrewery is different. A given practice/method may work well for one homebrewer but produce less than stellar results for another homebrewer.

The beauty of homebrewing: brew the beers you like and brew them the way you like.

Cheers!

 

Well, yeah, if we're talking about some sort of practice that complements/offsets some other characteristic. It's hard to imagine some circumstance where adding 5% or more of starter beer to a painstakingly developed wort recipe is a good thing for flavor. You could work around the negative affects by making the starter wort with the same grist, by limiting oxygen after the starter's fermentation takes off, by hopping it, by temperature controlling it, etc. Or you could change the way you make recipes to account for 5% extra pale/pils input, ferment the main recipe even lower to make up for the room temp starter esters, etc. Since most people wont do those things, I say pitching the whole starter is not a best practice. By best practice, I mean a practice that enables the best possible beer. Almost everyone makes "tasty" beers, or at least thinks they do.

 

Each homebrewer should select the practice/method that achieves their goals in brewing.

Cheers!

 

Two different roads can lead to the same destination. Some prefer the scenic route. Others prefer the straightest line between two points.

Both methods can produce tasty beer. Beginners should take the straight route just to be safe.

 

I guess I assume that making the best possible beer is a fairly common goal. Maybe it's not.

 

How many times have you pitched a complete 1L starter and what made those beer(s) sub-optimal?

I'm betting you have never pitched a full starter.

 

Beer (and brewing) is by its nature a subjective thing. One person could say that beer A (whether it is a commercial beer or a homebrewed beer) is "best" while another person would say otherwise.

Cheers!

 

Most people use sanitized foil.

 

If you are looking for 'optimum' oxygen being available for yeast growth then you want foil or foam.

I personally use aluminum foil on top of my yeast starter vessel.

Cheers!

 

@chavinparty

http://www.mrmalty.com/starter_faq.php

The link above tells you pretty much everything you need to know about making a starter.

Coincidentally, the author has won more homebrew awards than the sum of this forum and significant number of his ribbons were won by pitching a full starter. Hmmmm....