Or better in my experience.
I did take a 3 year brewing hiatus, and I’ve noticed it seems views on several brewing techniques have changed since then.
I agree that yeast health is MORE important than quantity, but that doesn’t mean quantity shouldn’t be considered.
So are you guys saying that there’s never a case that you need to pitch more than one packet/vial, so long as you pitch an active starter? Could you only use half the pack/vial with the same results as a whole pack?
Things change in this hobby quite frequently so if you take a break I could see you being surprised at some of the things you see. 30-minute boils for the win!! 
I believe you still have to pay attention to qty as well as viability.
You can underpitch if you don’t pitch at or near high krausen for the SNS starter (for example, a one quart SNS starter pitched too early or very late into a very high gravity batch (think Barley Wine) can result in an underpitch). I usually make a small beer (ABV wise) and use that full slurry as the “starter” for extremely large ABV beers. But the high krausen pitch of the SNS starter is putting a supercharged slurry into the batch of wort at that point, so it isn’t underpitching it, even if the sheer cell count might then be a bit low by calculator standards.
Oh and for the brewer who is just jumping back into brewing. Current conventional wisdom indicates that the use of dry yeast avoids the need to aerate wort these days…and no need to hydrate the dry yeast, either.
Always a starter for liquid, never for dry. As to the rest, read this Shaken, not Stirred: The Stir Plate Myth Buster | Experimental Brewing
Yes, but that quantity is less than with a typical stir plate starter.
This is why cell count is less important Yeast Cultures are Like Nuclear Weapons | Experimental Brewing
I’m going to start a fire here but I never saw a difference between my SNS starters and stirplate starters. To my untrained (but experienced) eye, my stirplate starters looked more foamy and active. The beers did not seem different, really. The SNS starter did not produce a better beer although it did produce a good beer. But same with my stirplate. To me this always seemed like a solution looking for a problem. I realize I am not a yeast lab scientist and I also know that a lot of study and effort went into those findings. I was just always very satisfied with my stirplate starters. My 2¢.
I think maybe my SNS beers turn out better, but I’ve never done a side by side. For me, one of the big plusses is that I find it faster and easier.
I have notes about some stirplate beers where I pitched the entire contents of the starter and those beers were spectacular. I have made 4-5 SNS starters and again … good beers. No complaints. But I didn’t have any complaints about my stirplate starters or beers either. It wasn’t an area where I was doing homework and looking for improvement.
It’s an interesting concept to me. It seems to me this is a way to replicate krausening, which is something I’ve always wanted to try. However, traditional krausening doesn’t offer the same timing flexibility as using slurry, which is why I haven’t adopted it. I almost always brew a low abv beer, and plan to brew a high gravity beer the same day I keg it (using a calculated amount of slurry after kegging said beer). With the almost limitless selection of dry yeast these days, I rarely use liquid yeast anymore, so I don’t think I’ll try this method anytime soon. But I do see the merit in it.
This is a neat article that is a similar method.
I hear people are using condoms these days, and getting their teeth cleaned every 6 months too! ;D
So here is my plan of attack. My current batch has reached FG and is sitting in my fermenter fridge at about 67 to 68. My plan is to leave it there until about Wednesday and dry hop. I have ordered the needed ingredients for a Single hop ale and should hopefully get them sometime during the week. If the ingredients come early, I will dry hop early as to be done within 4 to 5 days and ready to get my next batch going. Once I get the ingredients and dry hop is done, about 4 to 5 days I think, I will then start my next batch, bottle my current one and put my new batch on the yeast cake and see what happens. I have ordered a pack of BRY97 just in case, but I am hopeful I won’t need it. Any input on this? Thanks to all
Don’t use the whole yeast slurry. 1/2 is more than enough and in my experience will give you better results.
I would even say that a third of the slurry is more than enough for an ale, unless it is a really high ABV ale.
Cheers!
That’s what I’d do, but I thought 1/2 might be easier to eyeball. Not that exact amount matters much with that much yeast.
So would I be smart to save the other half in a mason jar in the fridge for the next batch then?