Pitching rate for Boho Pils

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

To be honest if I was doing a 23l batch and was stuck with a 2l flask and the pack of yeast that you have then I'd just do a 0.8 litre first stage starter, chill, decant, add a 1.4 second stage and call it close enough. 1.5 litres of lager yeast in a 2 litre flask shouldn't overflow.

Yep I was looking at that option too: it'd give me about 400bn cells I think. Actually my batch size is 32 litres though, so I think I might try to get a bit nearer 600bn.

I'll probably start with a 1 litre volume and see how much it froths up...

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

@foxbat In the absence of a 4 litre conical flask, do you think I could I build my starter in this 4.5 litre demijohn that I excavated from the darker recesses of the shed?
Clearly I wouldn't be able to boil up the wort in there but it seems like a decent compromise.
It's a bit of a juggling act to get the stir-bar to hang in - I guess because of the slightly domed bottom - but I think I've found a combination of bar size and rpm that works.

 

[cushyno]

@foxbat In the absence of a 4 litre conical flask, do you think I could I build my starter in this 4.5 litre demijohn that I excavated from the darker recesses of the shed?
Clearly I wouldn't be able to boil up the wort in there but it seems like a decent compromise.
It's a bit of a juggling act to get the stir-bar to hang in - I guess because of the slightly domed bottom - but I think I've found a combination of bar size and rpm that works.
View attachment 47200

I've done this on a couple of occasions. You're right about the domed bottom and the fact the glass is thicker means you need a strong magnet on your stirplate for it to work, but it does work admirably for large starters.

 

[cushyno]

https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/cushyno-brewdays-etc.83962/post-918315Pictures of my stirbar test with a demijohn.

 

[foxbat]

As above, definitely yes if you can get the stir bar to work in it.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Apologies for the rather newbie question, but when the multi-step starter calculators (e.g. Brewer's Friend) go from - say - 1L at step 1, to 2L at step 2 - does that mean you are adding 1 Litre of fresh DME wort to the existing starter to make a 2L total volume ... or adding 2L of fresh DME wort to make a 3L total volume??