Beer Forum

So I recently found out that I have access to an old fashioned stir plate. Like the ones that physically move in a small circle as opposed to ones with a magnetic spinner.

Are these acceptable for making starters? I'm brand new to starters but want to start brewing bigger beers ie my post about building a barlywine.

Also just to make sure I understand starters correctly someone tell me if anything I state below is false or something I need to change.

I remember Jamil saying that anything over 1.05 sg is harmful to yeast so even for bigger beers that should be the gravity of the wort for the starter.

Also... a 1L starter mainly wakes up the yeast and only has a 1.3X ish yield. Does that mean in order to have significant yeast growth I need to start with a 2L starter or do I need to start with 1L and step up to a 2L.

Lastly if I remember correctly from the shows 1 day if I'm just waking up the yeast but 3ish days to propagate yeast in a starter.

Thanks for the help BN!

1) The old fashioned stir plate should work fine. You're just trying to keep the yeast from settling to the bottom & keep them in solution. It might not be as effective as a newer plate, but it'll do the trick.

2) I never exceed 1.042 making a starter, even for a big beer. You're looking for growth, not fermentation. 1.040 is an acceptable target. A handy trick to grow up yeast for a big beer is to make a 5 gallon batch of blonde. My blonde uses 2 row, a touch of crystal malt & all noble hops for about 16 IBU's. It's basically a big starter by itself and the little extra crystal & low, neutral flavored hops won't have a detrimental effect on your big, flavorful beer. Of course you could just grow it with starters a few times, but you're just dumping money down the drain at that point.

3) It's been a while, so I can't recall exactly what my steps were, volume-wise, but you sound pretty on track. Perhaps I can find some notes later on, or someone else can chime in, to give a few more specifics.

4) 3ish days is about right. I just watch mine & go with the flow of the yeast. Once your krausen falls, you're pretty much ready to chill & decant. Giving it a little extra time after that doesn't hurt (& I would recommend you do so). If you want to pitch the starter directly, your aim is to do so just before the krausen starts falling. I rely on watching it & experience to do so.

One vial or smack pack in 2L will give you about double. What you are describing sounds more like a shaker, which is different from a stir plate, and not necessarily an older design (my stirplate is ancient). For example, shakers are commonly used when you need to have many flasks going at once (for bacteria culturing, etc). Large shaker tables will have a dozen or more clips where flasks can be placed, which allows them all to go at once, without separate magnetic rotors and stirbars. You should be able to do your starters without having to worry about dumping a stribar!

Because you will be allowing more oxygen in, you will get and oxidation of the spent wort, so you may wish to consider letting it go to completion, then chilling and decanting off the sent wort.

spiderwrangler wrote:Because you will be allowing more oxygen in, you will get and oxidation of the spent wort, so you may wish to consider letting it go to completion, then chilling and decanting off the sent wort.

Why would this be allowing more oxygen in? I plan on decanting anyway but I don't see how a shaker would allow more than stir plate.

But to clarify spider a shaker table is different than a stir plate but would still work? Or should I not use it.

Not more than a stir plate, but just more than a flask sitting on the counter, I imagine they would be pretty close. I think you should use it, does it have a way to secure the flask? Can you post a pic?

It was just described to me. I don't have it yet. When I get it I'll post a pic.

I'm imagining it is something along the lines of this... though I've never seen ones in use that use bungies, I've only seen ones with clips and restraining rings... but those videos sucked more than this one.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCy8jLl4REc&feature=related