I need some clarification on when to cold crash a starter please. I believe in the past people have mentioned after the krausen begins to fall. I have read more recently that you should crash after fermentation is over in the starter. Thoughts? Bonus picture below of my starter after 18 or so hours.
This answer, like many others, depends on who you ask. I had planned on dosing my next starter with oxygen, shaking and then crashing at high krausen. Previously I’ve done 18-24 hours on a stir plate, with no oxygen injection. What yeast are you using?
I am sure I am wrong but I am happy with me results. I let mine ferment out and then cold crash. Decant the beer and pitch dregs. Now, if I forget to make a starter ahead or don’t have time. Then I make a starter using wort and pitch the entire thing at high krausen but I am doing 15 gal batches so one litre of starter is of little concern to me.
That’s what I do and it works for me.
I too prefer to let my starter ferment to completion before cold crashing (usually around 24 hrs is enough depending on starter size and yeast freshness). All starters done on a stir plate.
If I plan to brew Friday then I crash Thursday night and pitch the next day. I have had pitches wait 3 or 4 days with no issue but if things change and I can’t brew for a week or so then I pull a bit of boiling wort in a clean mason jar, cap and cool and then put it on the yeast cake and pitch the whole thing a couple hours later. But I have only had to do this a couple times. Mostly I think it just wakes the yeast up.
OK, to beat a dead horse…I’d really like to brew tomorrow, but the starter is still chugging along. The krausen has fallen considerably but there is still active fermentation.
Would cold crashing tonight for 12 or so hours and decanting be “throwing away” some of the potential active yeast vs. waiting for fermentation to fully finish?
I believe that if the krausen has fallen then the yeast are now just building up resources and not reproducing. I believe you will be just fine to crash it tonight and then brew with it tomorrow. I certainly would.
Unless we are talking about a huge starter, crashing isn’t really necessary. I almost never crash my starters. I pitch the entire contents of the starter vessel. However, then again, I do not use a yeast stress inducing stir plate.
So you’re suggesting I just pitch it all tomorrow even though it may not be done at that point? I thought the consensus was to only pitch it all when it was at the peak.
quite likely it will be done. but then again, you could just throw it in fridge now and then pitch it tomorrow. this last thursday, i removed some slurry from y IPA and made a small 1L starter. it took off in about 2 hours and peaked at about 7 hours. i put it in fridge and took it out the next day and pitched about 400ml after partial decant. my new IPA took off in about 10 hrs and is going wicked strong. i’ve done this the last few batches and beer is as good as ever.
It does not matter if fermentation is complete or not, crashing and decanting is optional if one is not using a yeast stress inducing stir plate. The only thing that not decanting will do is dilute your final gravity a bit; therefore, wait until after you pitch to take your hydrometer sample.
To me, crashing and decanting is about not wanting to dilute the beer. However, I also don’t particularly care for the flavor of unhopped DME that was been warm fermented, regardless of whether or not the starter has been made with a stir plate.
Except you will dilute your gravity a significant amount if you follow the size recommendations of the online yeast calculators. I now believe that the online yeast calculators think that you will let the starter work to completion, crash and decant even if you’re not using a stir plate. I did a waaaaay too big shake-to-all-foam starter based on what MrMalty was saying that I needed for a shaken starter. If you pitch a starter at or near high krausen those yeasties are in high gear. You can make a much smaller starter than the calculators call for. By pitching a 3-1/2 L starter in a 6 gal. (final vol.) lager, I didn’t just reduce lagtime, I eliminated it altogether. Unnecessary.