Advice on starter temperature

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Tomp
Steady Drinker
Posts: 97
Joined: Sat May 27, 2017 8:01 pm

Advice on starter temperature

Post by Tomp » Mon Oct 16, 2017 2:00 pm

Afternoon folks.

I'm interested to know how others maintain starter temperatures.

I'm looking to use a stir plate and want to keep the starter at a nice even temperature (about 18c?) but my kitchen regularly falls below this temperature during the day time in winter and it seems a little extravagant just to keep the heating on for yeast cells......
It started with kits to save money and now look........!!!

Lots of kit, too many ingredients and not enough time, but a patient wife.... who loves my beer...........

Could be worse :-)

scotsloon
Piss Artist
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Location: Kemnay, Aberdeenshire

Re: Advice on starter temperature

Post by scotsloon » Mon Oct 16, 2017 3:37 pm

Do you have a drying cupboard? Maybe where your hot water tank is located? They are usually fairly warm and fairly steady. Your yeast would thrive in that situation.
Failing that you might consider making up a small enclosed and insulated box of sufficient size to put a tube heater into. You can use an Eltec temperature controller to maintain any temp you like then.

Tomp
Steady Drinker
Posts: 97
Joined: Sat May 27, 2017 8:01 pm

Re: Advice on starter temperature

Post by Tomp » Mon Oct 16, 2017 4:04 pm

scotsloon wrote:
Mon Oct 16, 2017 3:37 pm
.....Failing that you might consider making up a small enclosed and insulated box of sufficient size to put a tube heater into. You can use an Eltec temperature controller to maintain any temp you like then.
That was kind of at the back of my mind TBH. Probably the way forward. I'm about to build an insulated box for the fermentation bin to I could put a shelf in there for yeast while I'm at it.
It started with kits to save money and now look........!!!

Lots of kit, too many ingredients and not enough time, but a patient wife.... who loves my beer...........

Could be worse :-)

MTW
Drunk as a Skunk
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Location: Just outside Scarbados

Re: Advice on starter temperature

Post by MTW » Mon Oct 16, 2017 4:40 pm

If you haven't already, I'd stick some some 18C water in the flask (an amount to match your planned starter) and just see how much it warms just from any heat rising from the stir plate. My home made job creates quite a bit, but I have controlled cooling as well... and rarely bother with anything more than a well shaken, active starter nowadays.

You could do with a probe on the flask itself (I'm assuming a flask, with your stir plate), if not for control of a heater, at least to monitor the temperature of the fermenting starter; it will generate a fair bit of its own heat once it's going. I keep mine at 21-23C; some folk go higher than that, especially if they're planning to decant the spent wort/beer rather than pitch the whole thing. You want plenty of yeast growth above all else, and 18 is a bit on the low side for me, depending on how much heat the starter and the stir plate itself create.
Busy in the Summer House Brewery

Fil
Telling imaginary friend stories
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Re: Advice on starter temperature

Post by Fil » Tue Oct 17, 2017 7:12 pm

18c is low for a starter? when attempting to stimulate population growth in a starter a warmer temps 26-30c can help as well as keeping the sweet liquor well oxygenated.

As MTW says before pitching simply decant off all the spent liquor from the starter and only pitch the yeast slurry, rinsed out with cold earlier boiled water if needed..
ist update for months n months..
Fermnting: not a lot..
Conditioning: nowt
Maturing: Challenger smash, and a kit lager
Drinking: dry one minikeg left in the store
Coming Soon Lots planned for the near future nowt for the immediate :(

MTW
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Joined: Thu Feb 13, 2014 9:04 pm
Location: Just outside Scarbados

Re: Advice on starter temperature

Post by MTW » Tue Oct 17, 2017 9:28 pm

Fil wrote:
Tue Oct 17, 2017 7:12 pm
18c is low for a starter? when attempting to stimulate population growth in a starter a warmer temps 26-30c can help as well as keeping the sweet liquor well oxygenated.

As MTW says before pitching simply decant off all the spent liquor from the starter and only pitch the yeast slurry, rinsed out with cold earlier boiled water if needed..
FWIW I didn't mean to recommend decanting generally, just if you've gone for such high temperatures as you're suggesting, and when making stepped starters. I prefer to keep them around 21 and pitch the whole thing fully active around 12 or 15 hours on.
Busy in the Summer House Brewery

McMullan

Re: Advice on starter temperature

Post by McMullan » Wed Oct 18, 2017 11:51 am

About 30*C is optimum. Sufficient growth occurs below 30. It just takes longer. It's not necessary to decant spent starter wort (and waste time chilling it) between step ups. Just reduce the volume of water in the subsequent step. E.g., for a finished 500ml starter being stepped up to 2.5L, add 2L containing 250g DME.

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