When do I pitch a yeast starter?

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theboytony

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I made a 1 litre starter up last night with some bottle cultured yeast but I am a bit unsure of when to pitch it. It is going like mad at the moment, do I to pitch it now or wait until it has fermented out, let it settle then pour off the starter beer and just pitch the yeast? It is going to be going into a kit beer btw.

Thanks
 
Im no expert on starters, but this is what I did for my first one last weekend. I gave it 48 hours with 600ml of 'wort' and then stepped up to 2 litres. I left this for 24 hours then gave it 12 hours in the fridge before pitching. I poured off the starter beer, let it warm to room temperature and then added a little boiled and cooled water to the flask just so there was something there to lift the yeast back into suspension. I gave this a swirl and pitched into a couple of FVs.

Simon
 
StubbsPKS said:
Some people don't agree with everything Palmer says
Click to expand...
Palmer doesn't agree with everything Palmer says on the How To Brew website!! There are major differences between the paper 3rd edition of How To Brew and the 1st edition on the website.

The 3rd edition is actually quite good . . . apart from its US bias, but what can you expect :D, converting from US measurements to Imperial / Metric is a pain but easily handled. The one thing that really annoys me though is the use of ingredients that we have no hope of getting here in the UK :evil: . . . As an experienced all grain brewer I can make judgement calls about what to swap, but for an inexperienced brewer it can be a nightmare judging from the threads on extract brewing of pale ales in the brewing discussions sub forum
 
Aleman said:
There are major differences between the paper 3rd edition of How To Brew and the 1st edition on the website.
Click to expand...

This makes a LOT of sense. In the book, he mentions that when his starter is less than 10% (I THINK - don't quote me on this figure) of the final volume, he just pitches the whole thing. However, if it's more than 10%, he drains off the liquid so that the starter wort doesn't affect the flavor of the final wort.

That's what I spent like 10-15 minutes looking for on the book's website but couldn't find it and figured I must have imagined it.

When I get home tonight, I will try and remember to look it up in the latest edition of the book :thumb:


Edit: I must admit that I am not entirely sure where my book has gone. When I find it, I'll post the details I was talking about :)
 
we always make a starter 4 days before brewing and we let it rerment fully before adding it to the wort. That way the yeasties are peckish for sugar when they go in :thumb:
 

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