So, I took the dregs of six two hearted ale's (good day) and made a starter according to Palmer's instructions for harvesting yeast from commercial bottles (except he recommends 3 bottles and I went with the 6 bottle method).
One puzzling thing is that he says on pg 76 "In fact, you may not notice any activity in the starter for the first couple of wort additions until the amount of yeast builds to higher levels. Add more wort as necessary to build the yeast slurry to pitching level."
So, what is pitching level and how do I know if I'm there. I'm not asking for the technical defintion of pitching level here I'm asking how do I know as someone who took the yeast from commercial bottles of beer if I an acceptable level? Also, when stepping up, how exactly do I do that? I'm thinking right now that I will let this first iteration go and then step up as if this first iteration is a yeast vial and make my usual starter from there. Does this sound okay or do I need to step up more times than that? If so, how exactly would you do that?
Thanks
WR
One puzzling thing is that he says on pg 76 "In fact, you may not notice any activity in the starter for the first couple of wort additions until the amount of yeast builds to higher levels. Add more wort as necessary to build the yeast slurry to pitching level."
So, what is pitching level and how do I know if I'm there. I'm not asking for the technical defintion of pitching level here I'm asking how do I know as someone who took the yeast from commercial bottles of beer if I an acceptable level? Also, when stepping up, how exactly do I do that? I'm thinking right now that I will let this first iteration go and then step up as if this first iteration is a yeast vial and make my usual starter from there. Does this sound okay or do I need to step up more times than that? If so, how exactly would you do that?
Thanks
WR