• Welcome to the new forum! We upgraded our forum software with a host of new boards, capabilities and features. It is also more secure.
    Jump in and join the conversation! You can learn more about the upgrade and new features here.

How to use a Starter with BeerSmith

R. Gibson

Master Brewer
Joined
Jul 20, 2011
Messages
67
Reaction score
0
When should  the OG measurement be taken, before or after the starter has been pitched? I have the "add starter to bottling volume" box checked...but not sure how much the starter is impacting the measured gravity of the beer. From playing around in BeerSmith, it doesn't appear that checking or unchecking that box affects the estimated OG or ABV...

...also, if I'm looking to ferment 5.0 gallons, and my starter is .75 gallon, should I adjust my batch size to 4.25 gallon and keep the "add starter to bottling volume" box checked? If I do that, then how is color, flavor and bitterness affected...or should the batch size stay at 5.0 gal, and then decant off the fermented wort from the starter and just pitch the yeast cake?

 
If it were my beer I would not want 15 pct of my beer to come from starter wort.  So, I would decant that much starter and pitch just the slurry. Normally, I grow my starter, then crash and decant.  Then on brewday I add a half liter or so of starter wort back to the slurry to get it active. I let this ferment while I brew the wort. Hen Ipitch tthe whole bubbling mess. But, that is only a small amount of wort (less than 5 pct).  My limit for pitching the whole starter is 5 pct of the batch size. Above that, I decant.
 
Listen to Tom.  If you have any doubts, crash the starter and taste a bit of the wort.  Not really that good.
 
That makes sense. Thanks for the advice guys! Maybe too late, but I'm crashing the starter now (on brew day). It's a lager, so not sure how effective it will be though...hopefully I can get most of the yeast to drop out, decant off most of the wort, then let the temp come back up to 50 or so and pitch.
 
I crash my starter in the refrigerator for 18 to 24 hours before I start to brew.  When I start the mash, I pull it out of the refrigerator and decant the clear wort off the yeast cake.  Then I put the flask with the yeast cake on my stir plate to warm to room temperature.  When I have taken my hydrometer readings after the finished boil (chilled to 60F), I pitch the contents of the graduate into the flask and start the stir plate to get the yeast cake into suspension.  By the time the rest of the wort has been cooled and transferred to the carboy, I can pitch the now re-awakened yeast into the carboy.
 
Oginme: I like it. I'll be doing it that way from now on. Thanks!

I think my lager starters need to be started at least a week ahead of time as well. They ferment a bit slower than ales. A stir plate is on my short list as well. It should pay for itself within 10 batches or so, depending on how many yeast packs would be used without it.
 
Back
Top