Stepping Up

[sluggerdog]

I have a starter I have now stepped up twice with just over 2 litres of trub sitting in the bottle of my starter bottle.

Today is brew day and and I was wondering do you think I have time to step this up again one more time?

Would the yeast do it's job and settle to the bottom before say around 5 PM today when I will pitch?

Was hoping to have trub from about 3 litres but I started a day late.

Or should I just leave it with the 2 litres orth of trub?

It's a lager yeast.

:beer:

 

[PeterS]

I have a starter I have now stepped up twice with just over 2 litres of trub sitting in the bottle of my starter bottle.

Today is brew day and and I was wondering do you think I have time to step this up again one more time?

Would the yeast do it's job and settle to the bottom before say around 5 PM today when I will pitch?

Was hoping to have trub from about 3 litres but I started a day late.

Or should I just leave it with the 2 litres orth of trub?

It's a lager yeast.

:beer:

[post="69247"][/post]​

Slugger, first of all, if you have 2 litres of trub sitting in the bottle that should be enough to ferment a Hectolitre or 2. Sorry, I could not resist that, I know what you mean. If you wish to step it up again, it is possible that by 5pm it will be at high krausen and it is pitchable at that time together with the wort that you are using in the bottle. However, and I stress with my limited experiance, I found that a 1L starter is sufficient for an Ale and a 2L starter for a Lager. Others might tell you different. In any case, like Charlie Pappazian says: Relax, Don't worry, Have a Homebrew...\
:beer:
PeterS....

 

[sluggerdog]

Thanks Peter, I have pitched 2 litres before however I found 3 was better/faster.

Will stick with 2, it'll be right!

 

[JasonY]

Slugger sometimes what I do if the liquid above the yeast is clear is pour off most of it and bung another litre of the beer I am brewing in there. It's usually about 28deg when it comes out of my chiller so I have to wait for the fermenter to cool before pitching. However by the time I am ready to pitch the yeast is going off in the starter.

Don't know it makes a hell of a lot of diff when you have a 2L starter but hopefully they get the taste for the brew

 

[SJW]

I am with JasonY, thats what I did with my last Lager. I had about 2 litres after stepping up twice. On brewday I tipped off the 2 litres on top and left about 10mm of yeast on the bottom. After I finished sparging I just ran another litre through and boiled it on the stove, crash cooled it and added to the yeast. A couple of hours later when it was time to pitch it was going real good. I dont like to pitch too much of the starter wort as I have this funny idea that because my starter is done at quite warm temps I dont want any off flavours in my delicate Lagers. I know it would not matter but thats just me.

STEPHEN

 

[sosman]

I am with JasonY, thats what I did with my last Lager. I had about 2 litres after stepping up twice. On brewday I tipped off the 2 litres on top and left about 10mm of yeast on the bottom. After I finished sparging I just ran another litre through and boiled it on the stove, crash cooled it and added to the yeast. A couple of hours later when it was time to pitch it was going real good. I dont like to pitch too much of the starter wort as I have this funny idea that because my starter is done at quite warm temps I dont want any off flavours in my delicate Lagers. I know it would not matter but thats just me.

[post="69264"][/post]​

A 2 litre starter in a 20 litre batch can influence the flavour, I figure if you have enough settled yeast then the most conservative option is to only pitch the slurry.