large yeast starter vs stepping up with smaller starters

[thedrake]

I am considering pitching 1 vial of White Labs yeast directly into a 4 liter starter to get 300-350 billion cells (for ~10 gal of 1.048 ale), rather than stepping up from a 1 liter starter to a 4 liter starter. I have read that pushing the yeast to large amounts of cell growth can negatively impact the vitality of the final yeast, but how much growth is too much? Is 1 vial in a 4 liter starter OK or am I pushing my luck? I probably don't have time to step up with 2 sequential starters before brew day, so I want to maximize cell growth from 1 vial without compromising yeast health. Has anyone tried this?

[Quin]

It will be fine. I use two smack packs into a 2 gal starter when starting a new lager yeast.

Also think about it this way. There's around 100 billion cells per vial; that's enough to completely ferment 4.5-5 gallons of 1.030 starter wort at a pitching rate of 0.75 million cells/mL wort/degree plato.

[bikefoolery]

When I was preparing a starter for a 5.5 gallon batch of belgian dark strong, a 9 liter starter was suggested . I decided to step up the starter. If time compressed, just go with a 4 liter starter.

1 vial into 4 liters won't be a problem, but you may want to consider if 4 liters is going to get you the cell count you are looking for. Do you have a stir plate setup?

http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

The Fool.

[thedrake]

I've read that a 4 liter starter will yield ~3x growth, which should get me in the ballpark of the cell count I need for my target pitching rate (300-350 billion cells).

What is the practical limit in terms of starter size for pitching 1 vial? At what point can I expect to stress the yeast to the point where viability will be affected?

[Quin]

There's around 100 billion cells per vial; that's enough to completely ferment 4.5-5 gallons of 1.030 starter wort at a pitching rate of 0.75 million cells/mL wort/degree plato.