Making starters from yeast slants

[Chris Craig]

I really would like to know how to make a starter from a yeast slant.  I mean, I know how to make a starter, but what is the proper way to do it?  How much wort do I need?  Should I step the starter up?  How long should it take with a stir plate?  Without?

Right now, I have 1.4L of 1.035 wort on my stir plate with some 1068 yeast from a slant.  I plan to use this in 10 gallons of best bitter on Sunday.  I'm doing this early because my previous attempts at making a starter from a slant in 2 days have failed.  There was no activity in the fermenter after 3 days.

3 guesses who this is directed at...

[Jake]

Haven't tried a slant yet, but have done a bunch of starters. If I remember correctly, I thought that Thomas said that it takes at least a couple days with a slant, whereas smack packs are good to go within 8 hours or so which is pretty sweeeeet.

I've also read that a step starter is probably the best option when starting from a slant ... I read a real good thread on HBT about doing step starters (how much to step it up each time and where to start). I'll take a look and see if I can find if you're interested.

[Chris Craig]

That'd be great.

[Jake]

This wasn't the thread I read, but it was this guy, I'll keep looking ... this looks like a pretty good resource.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/slanting-yeast-133103/

I've read a couple posts this guy has made and he seems to know what he's talking about

[Kyle]

I don't have a lot of experience with using the slants, but from the few I've done, I've used a process along the lines of what is done in the thread Jake posted, with good success.

[jamie_savoie]

My guess is that slants would work pretty much like culturing yeast from a bottle?   If it were me I would make a 1.020 starter and then step it up with 1.040 after about 3-4 days.  Personally I would make the starter at least a week in advance just to make sure you have good yeast population

[Thomas]

Like Jake said, the slants wil not grow at the same rate as a smack pack. Smack packs have at least 100 billion cells to start with, and the purpose of a starter is to provide enough wort for them to grow and double that number. The slants are several log scales fewer in total cell numbers, and will take much longer to grow to the same cell density. Depending on the age, temperature and total volume, starters made from slants will take 3-5 days to show activity and a few more to reach maximum cell density.
Like I have said before, you cannot make starter from slants the same way they are made from smack packs, they are two completely different situations. When making a starter from a slant start a week in advance, and cold crash before pitching.

[brew]

I have to say, since I've started doing 3 stage starters (instead of 2) I'm having much better success. I've been starting with 250ml, then add 500, then add 750-1000. So far so good. I did the Kolsch slant from the library (dated May 2011) last week and there's almost an inch of yeast on the bottom of my 2L mason jar now in the fridge, no off smell, ready to pitch. I've generally been waiting 24 hours before adding the incremental DME mixture, although with the first 250, this time it seemed ready to go after 12 hours... The last addition generally takes at least 24 hours - the last one bubbled over the tin foil after not quite 24, and I left it for 36.