Yeast Starter for TT landlord

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private4587

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I have been let down on my build of a stir plate by the person supplying the magnets. I now need to build a starter using the shake method, I have written a procedure for this and was hoping someone of more brewing experience ( i am new to this ) would go over it and pass on any tips. Thanks

My 2lt Overbuild Starter using Wyeast 1469
I want to make a 2lt overbuild yeast starter, using the Homebrew Dad's Yeast Starter Calculator v1.1 the results show that I must make a twostep starter. Below is my method of carrying this out. From the table, it shows that I need 301 billion cells
1. Remove the night before the Wyeast smackpac from fridge and allow to come to room temp.
2. Locate the activator pac and break with a sharp smack.
3. Pace in brew fridge and allow to swell.
4. Next day pour 2.2lts of water into pan and bring to boil.
5. When boiling add 220g of Liquid Malt Extract (Holland & Barret) and mix well.
6. Boil mixture for 5min and then place in sink filled with iced water to cool, cover with sanitised lid.
7. When Temp is at approx. 22C remove from sink and pour into a sanitised 5lt water bottle or demijohn, and add contents of smackpac.
8. Place sanitised lid on bottle and give the bottle a vigorous shake for a few mins.
9. Allow to stand for a few mins and then place in brew fridge set at 22C.
10. Remove and shake bottle min of 4 times/day for two days, each time remembering to tighten top before shaking and loosening afterwards.
11. After two days place in cold fridge and allow the wort/yeast to separate.
12. After yeast has settled out (maybe a day) decant liquid off yeast cake leaving approx. 1cm of liquid behind, this should give me approx. 165 billion cells.
13. Next day pour 2.5lts of water into pan and bring to boil.
14. When boiling add 248g of Liquid Malt Extract (Holland & Barret) and mix well.
15. Boil mixture for 5min and then place in sink filled with iced water to cool, cover with sanitised lid.
16. When Temp is at approx. 22C remove from sink and pour into a sanitised 5lt water bottle or demijohn, and add contents of decanted wort/yeast.
17. Place sanitised lid on bottle and give the bottle a vigorous shake for a few mins.
18. Allow to stand for a few mins and then place in brew fridge set at 22C.
19. Remove and shake bottle min of 4 times/day for two days, each time remembering to tighten top before shaking and loosening afterwards.
20. Once starter is finished, make sure contents are well mixed and pour 500ml into a sterilised jar, leaving the lid loose and place into cold fridge.
21. With the remaining 2lt starter place in fridge and allow to separate.
22. After yeast has settled out (maybe a day) the starter should have a layer of yeast on the bottom with a layer of wort above.
23. The next day commence brew and once wort has reached pitching temp, carefully decant liquid from starter leaving approx. 1cm behind.
24. Swirl remaining liquid and yeast until mixed and pitch into the fermenter.
 
You could do pretty much as you are doing but not put the yeast starter in your brew fridge but just leave it out close by and give it a a good swirl every time you are by it, then at night when temperatures might dip just put it in the brew fridge to maintain the temperature
 
Ok finally my magnets turned up so please forget about my original plan to shake the starter. By tomorrow my stir plate should be finished and i can get on with the pain to make the starter using the stir plate but as ever i have a few questions.
1 How does it need to remain on stir plate for?
2. I am making an over build with data taken from an online spreadsheet, once i have poured off my .5lt into jar do i crash the remainder until the yeast has separated and then pour majority of the wort away and then pitch the remainder once up to temp?
3. with the overbuild portion do i just leave in the fridge until required and then make up new starter. do i tighten down lid or just leave it loose?
 
Ok finally my magnets turned up so please forget about my original plan to shake the starter. By tomorrow my stir plate should be finished and i can get on with the pain to make the starter using the stir plate but as ever i have a few questions.
1 How does it need to remain on stir plate for?

48 hours is enough and is my standard period.

2. I am making an over build with data taken from an online spreadsheet, once i have poured off my .5lt into jar do i crash the remainder until the yeast has separated and then pour majority of the wort away and then pitch the remainder once up to temp?

Yes. After the 48 hours of auto-stirring lift it off the plate, pour off your 0.5l and crash the remainder. If the yeast is very highly flocculent and looks like cottage cheese swirling around (e.g. WLP002/WLP007) you actually have to do this within seconds or the whole lot falls to the bottom before you can pour it!

I pour off the spent wort as much as I can but there's a Brulosophy experiment where he poured in one metric crapload of spent wort and the difference could not be tasted in the finished beer so it's up to you.

3. with the overbuild portion do i just leave in the fridge until required and then make up new starter. do i tighten down lid or just leave it loose?

I leave it a little loose for a few days then tighten it fully. Once it's chilled to fridge temperatures it's in no danger of producing CO2 and exploding. I have jars in the fridge going back 3 months that are fully tightened.
 
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