New Brunswick Craft Brewers Association

Brewing => Yeast => Topic started by: Thomas on October 18, 2011, 05:05:11 PM

Title: When using slants
Post by: Thomas on October 18, 2011, 05:05:11 PM
Dont be discouraged if a starter prepared from a slant  doesn't seem to take off quickly. When making a starter from a smack pack, I usually have strong activity within 6-12 hours and a noticeable increase in the amount of yeast cells on the bottom of my flask. When I prepare starters using the slants it may take 24-48 hours for the same level of activity, but you will get the same amount of yeast nonetheless. The starter I prepared at the meeting this saturday did not have any activity until monday morning, and when I stuck it in the fridge this morning to cold crash there was a nice thick layer of yeast at the bottom.
I just wanted to give those of you who do have slants a heads up, so that you are not discouraged that the yeast are dead and prematurely pitch your starter down the drain. And of course, always remember to give your starter a little sniff before actually pitching it into your wort. If it smells really bad, or "off", it is likely infected and you should consider saving your wort from a possible infection. Thats where a nice stock of dry yeast packets comes in handy.
Title: Re: When using slants
Post by: sdixon on October 18, 2011, 05:53:29 PM
Thomas - Glad you posted this... it's been about 20hrs for me and little or no activity. I started with 25g of DME in 250ml of water. I was going to step up with another 50g and 500ml. Should I wait until I see activity before I step it up?
Title: Re: When using slants
Post by: Thomas on October 19, 2011, 12:36:48 PM
Ya, if your doing a step starter it is always best to step up during the point of maximum activity (high krausen). Thats when the yeast are really healthy and dividing rapidly and will continue to do so as long as nutrients are available. If you are preparing a starter from a slant without a stir plate it might take you longer, try to give it a good shake as aften as you can you rouse the yeast.
Title: Re: When using slants
Post by: brew on April 12, 2012, 10:01:44 AM
So recently I did a 1056 slant starter using a stir plate. 250ml first, for 12 hours (there were bubbles) then add 500ml for 12 hours (still had bubbles), then I added another 750ml (total 1.5L) - bubbles soon disappeared but came back after 24 hours. When I pitched this shortly after, the wash took off in 12 hours and after 36 hours did actually hit the top of my fermenter (didn't blow anything up but did mess up my airlock) - definitely outperformed the US-05 and finished from 1.056 to 1.008. Its in the secondary now (How Now Brown Cow)

I found "babying" the starter like this (3 step, doubling every time) really worked great and I had the best ferment ever... more of a pain but I think well worth it... I'm going to try this again with the ESB slant I have...
Title: Re: When using slants
Post by: Dave Savoie on April 12, 2012, 10:08:36 AM
Once I move back to freddy im going to make use of the library for sure never really done a starter before so it will be a learning curve
Title: Re: When using slants
Post by: Chris Craig on April 12, 2012, 10:27:43 AM
I have a 1L starter on the stir plate right now.  It's my first time using a stir plate, and it's been going for 2 days. I'm brewing on Saturday, so I plan to crash it in the fridge tomorrow, then decant the beer off it.  It'll be interesting to see how thick the yeast layer is on the bottom of the flask.
Title: Re: When using slants
Post by: Ian Grant on April 12, 2012, 02:51:35 PM
Quote from: "ChrisCraig"
I have a 1L starter on the stir plate right now.  It's my first time using a stir plate, and it's been going for 2 days. I'm brewing on Saturday, so I plan to crash it in the fridge tomorrow, then decant the beer off it.  It'll be interesting to see how thick the yeast layer is on the bottom of the flask.


Was this from a smack pack. I watched a video from wyeastlab saying 24 hrs is long enough on a stir plate anything longer will beat the shit out of it.  This is for smack packs or vials, there is alot of yeast there ready to go and it doesn't take long to eat the sugar in the starter.
Title: Re: When using slants
Post by: Chris Craig on April 12, 2012, 03:10:27 PM
No, this was from one of Thomas' slants.  For a smack pack, if it was fresh, I wouldn't do a starter for a beer under 1.050.