Stepping Up Yeast Amounts

[jadk42]

I'd love to hear from people who culture their yeast and how much you step up each time? From reading on the net it seems like from sample to 10ml wort then 100ml then 500 ml. Does this really give enough?
David

 

[Fourstar]

On a Stirplate i believe so, without one and the use of intermittant shaking will probabaly yield a few %'s less, say 20%?! Someone else will be able to field this answer better than i. I do folow this method. Firstly, I'll fill my vial and shake the crap out of it and leave until i see activity (usually 24 hours), then pitch into my flask with 100ml and stir for 1/2-1 day, then ramp up to 500ml and stir for 2 days. I then crash chill, decant off and assume this is = 1 smack pack.

I then calc my starter requirements from there.

 

[kabooby]

Depends on the beer and what you are culturing up from.

If culturing from a slant for a standard ale
- Add about 20ml to the slant then leave it for a few days, I always get activity within 24hrs.
- I then step up to 200ml and leave untill wort starts to clear.
- Chill to drop most of the yeast out, decant and pitch the yeast to about 2 litres.
- Let this ferment out, chill to drop the yeast out, decant the liquid and pitch the yeast to the wort.

For a lager or bigger beers I will keep stepping up to the size I want using the same process.

Kabooby