yeast starter.

I would cold crash it for at least 12 hours. I believe most of the reproduction is done within 24-48 hours, so you shouldn't be stunting the yeast too much. This reminds me, I need to go re-read 'Yeast'.

 

It depends.

You shouldn't be looking to get the last cell out of your starter. I rely on the guidance from Mr. Malty and Yeast. The two quotes below refer to starters from yeast packets. You have cultured yeast and are dependent on estimating the starting cell count which determines your inoculation rate. Remember, not all 1L (or 2L) starters are the same . . . your initial cell count and starter volume determines the growth factor, which influences the time required and cells produced. Sometimes I really believe we work for the yeast.

Q: At what point do I pitch the starter into the wort?

A great deal of discussion rages over this topic. Should the starter be fermented completely, the spent liquid decanted, and the yeast pitched or should the entire starter be pitched when at the height of activity?

Most yeast experts say that when propagating yeast, moving at high krausen is optimal. The time of high krauesen can range anywhere from a few hours to twenty-four or more. It depends on the amount of yeast added to the starter wort, yeast health, temperature, and several other factors.

Doss says a starter made from an XL pack of yeast into 2 liters of wort will reach its maximum cell density within 12-18 hours. If you're starting with a very small amount of yeast in a large starter, it can take 24 hours or more to reach maximum cell densities. For the average starter, let's just say that the bulk of the yeast growth is done by 12-18 hours.

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.
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Wyeast says starters reach their maximum cell density within 12-18 hours, which sounds about right to me. Some sources suggest that maximum cell densities are not achieved until 24 hours and others as much as 36, but the return on waiting that long is minimal. Let's just say that the bulk of the yeast growth is done by 12-18 hours. I like to pitch starters while they're still very active and as soon as the bulk of reproduction is finished, usually within 8 to 18 hours. This is really convenient, because I can make a starter the morning of the brew day or the night before the brew day and it is ready to go by the time the batch of wort is ready. There is no need to make a starter a week in advance, because I pitch the whole starter, liquid and all (up to a certain size of starter). Yes, you can wait longer and completely ferment it out so you don't have to pitch the liquid, but if you're going to do that, you should use a larger starter and allow the fermentation to go complete cycle over several days, chill, decant the beer and pitch just the yeast. If you're making a smaller starter, it is better to just pitch the entire active starter within about 6 to 12 hours of pitching the yeast into the starter.

Here are the links to these quotes with additional info:
http://www.mrmalty.com/starter_faq.php
http://www.mrmalty.com/pitching.php

I personally have pitched my starters at high krausen and after decanting, both with good results. Both methods will work, but you should be aware of the extra volume involved if you don't decant.

Good luck with the Conan.

 

why would you cold crash it? you'll just stop what you've started.

 

He probably doesn't want the starter wort in his beer wort.

 

I would cold crash it. Try to get it to settle as much as you can, it really likes suspending better than settling I have found.

 

but in such close proximity to his brew day?

 

Conan doesn't flocc out very well, so if you want to cold crash before tomorrow I'd put it in an ice bath or something to help it along, assuming that won't hurt your viability.

 

If this was a situation I was in, and have been in, I pitch the whole starter in and let her go.
I had a brown that I got the starter going on late, and the yeast were a bit slow, so I wound up pitching at the height of krausen. I thought to myself "well, I'm boned". The fermentation I got from that starter was the most vigorous and aggressive fermentation I've experienced in the year I have been brewing. So now that is exactly when I pitch all my starters. It seems I get a cleaner fermentation since I started this.

 

In the past Ive pulled a little off to make some more head space and added some more starter wort to keep them going the rest of the time until I got to brew day. The Conan does seem to progressively floculate worse as you step them up. I noticed it and have read about it. Make some more work, pull off a ball jar or so to save for the next batch and add the wort.

 

If a homebrewer is interested in getting a healthy fermentation going then pitching plenty of actively growing yeast (i.e., the whole starter at high krausen) will accomplish that. This is the ‘method’ that Jamil Zainasheff advocates; you can read it in the post by PortLargo above.

Jamil does state that there are circumstances where it may not be appropriate to pitch the entire starter:

· If you used a stir plate to make your starter since the starter wort could be oxidized

· If you made a very large starter

Cheers!

 

Don't leave us dangling . . . what did you decide? What's the brew? Care to post the results after brew day? How come everyone is harvesting Conan but me? Why do I ask so many questions . . . ? ? ?

 

If we are trying to introduce oxygen prior to fermentation why would we be worried about this?

 

The notion is that if the starter wort is oxidized it may contain off-flavors (e.g., cardboard like flavors). These off-favors could then possibly be noticed in the final beer.

Jamil Zainasheff makes the statement that it may not be a good idea to pitch the entire starter if a stir plate is used to make the starter. I have seen people post that they use stir plates to make their starters and pitch the entire starter contents into the wort and they don’t notice any off-flavors in their resulting beers. I do not use a stir plate when I make starters so I have no personal experience here.

Cheers!

 

JackHorzempa explained it. We want oxygen in the beer wort prior to fermentation, but we don't want excessive oxidized compounds. I use a stirplate, and I always crash/decant. I'm not worried about the oxidized compounds as much as the fact that the starter wort/beer is not a part of my beer recipe. i.e. the starter wort/beer doesn't taste much like the beer I'm trying to make (and agonized over the ingredients for), so I don't want it added to my beer wort.

 

“Later I realised that there was a lot left in the flask. Was this the yeast?” Did the stuff at the bottom of your flask have the consistency of peanut butter? If so, then I would guess there was some yeast left on the bottom of your flask. Hopefully enough yeast cells made their way into your wort for a successful ferment.

When I make yeast starters I follow the Jamil Zainasheff method and I let the yeast propagate for about 18 hours. At that point there is a fair amount of yeast on the bottom of the glass container. I vigorously swirl the container until all of the material is in solution and then pitch the entire contents. Sometimes I need to swirl a long time (1-2 minutes) to get everything off the bottom.

Cheers!

 

Sounds like you didn't get all of the yeast cake back into suspension. The trick is to leave just enough starter beer to be able to get it all swirled back in. If you still have yeast in the bottom (even now), you can suspend it with a little distilled water (boil and cool first if you want) and pitch.