So I am working on stepping up my WLP820 for My Märzen this weekend. I started with 1 vial (BB Date 10/23/14) and 1.8L wort in a 2L flask. Once chilled, I decanted most of the spent wort. The next step is 2.5L and was supposed to go into a 1Gallon wine bottle. Therein lies the problem. Once the 2.5L of fresh wort was in there and the slurry from original was added, It was just too much to be contained in the gallon bottle. I did use fermcap in both of the steps. The step sizes came from yeastcalc.com, supposed to yield 421B cell of my needed 423B cells. (this is all being done without a stir plate, only intermittent shaking) So here come the questions:
Upon realizing that I did not have enough room, I swirled the gallon container and then poured off 1.2L back into the erhlenmeyer flask. There were no visible solids upon this transfer so I feel that the yeast was well suspended. Will this arbitrary splitting yield 2 viable starters that can both be added to my wort on Saturday?
I have more DME if the consensus is that I need more volume, and will likely delay pitching till Sunday, so time is not a deterrant for any suggestions out there
So what say you all? Your thoughts and insights are greatly appreciated on this my first lager attempt. And a stir plate is in the works for future batches. Thank you in advance
Splitting it would be fine, the only thing if you wanted to get insanely anal about it (i see no point since we’re homebrewers) is making sure the yeast/starter was evenly distributed which again, i wouldnt bother to do. Im in the market for a 5L flask for when I do lagers, really high ABV batches, or my 10 gallon single strain batches for this same reason.
Dont sweat it, what you did is fine. your cell count might end up higher than estimated. I’ve found that the final cell count of a starter is the same for stirred or intermittently shaken starters. The big difference I have seen is the time the take to complete. The main driver of cell count is the amount of extract. 1g of sugar will yield about 1 billion cells. This follows the Balling Observation.
I’m working on a cell density meter that would let you know when you have reached the cell count you need for your beer.
I have 1 large starter I am planning to divide for 2 5 gal carboys (to ferment a 10 gal overall).
When you split a starter, would it be more accurate to pour half into another container before decanting? I am thinking it would be easier to estimate what half would be with more liquid. Then you can cold crash both. Or am I over thinking this?
You can do this, but then you are bringing in another point of potential contamination. Most likely not a big deal, but the risk is still there. If your sanitation is solid, go for it.
While not easy to do evenly in an Erlenmeyer flask, I decant, swirl, and eyeball it.