Shaken, not Strirred

[BrannigansLove]

If it were me, I'd chuck the lot in, but I can't see it being a problem either way.

[donchiquon]

Thanks Jocky and BrannigansLove - always good to have a second opinion!

I pitched about an hour ago. Managed to leave some of the chunkiest lumps behind(!) but in went the hoppy foam on top. It smelt ok though, so hopefully any effects from the hop/trub will be minimal.

Will be interesting to see how quickly it gets going compared to a normal slurry pitch.


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[donchiquon]

Off like a rocket in under 7 hours. I've never had a brew get going so quickly. The FB smells great!

So next question is what to do for the next brew in 2 weeks time.

I'm thinking that I will collect the slurry from this 23L brew (I'm only using whole hops so should be cleaner than previous brews) and then use some of it (half?) to pitch straight into a James Bond starter for the following days brew.

I can then save the other half of the slurry in the fridge.

Does using half of the slurry sound about right?...


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[BrannigansLove]

Personally I think you'd be fine just pitching the slurry without a starter, if it's only the following day.

[rpt]

You should only need about 200mL of slurry with no starter.

[donchiquon]

Ah...good point. Thanks!

I think I was getting carried away with the idea of always making starters!


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[j444fog]

I've recently started collecting some slurry for re-use and so far I am on my third successful re-use of WLP 830.

What I've found is that out of the packet, it took a lot longer for the starter to pick up than it has done from using slurry to make a starter.

I've tried using slurry that has been kept in the fridge for 2 weeks and slurry straight out of the FV to make starters with no real noticeable difference between how quickly they pick up and how vigorous they then go on to ferment.

I'm practicing temperature control as I'm doing lager's with the WLP830 and fermenting out at 11c before diacetyl rest and it's really pleasurable to see that even at what I consider to be a very low temperature, that yeast keeps growing and fermenting.

When I started using the shaken not stirred method for re-using the yeast I wasn't sure if it would be easy to do, or even how successful it would be, and I am pleasantly surprised on both counts. Following good hygiene techniques is a must, and my local friendly chemist sourced me some Isopropyl alcohol at a good price for that final wiping down before transferring etc as advised by the yeast whisperer.

Anyway, as to the point about whether to chuck the lot in or decant the top liquid, I understand you can decant, but so far I've been using about 250ml of slurry to make a 1.5 litre DME starter starter which includes trub etc, and then when the starter has got going, chucking the whole of the starter in to the FV, with no problems so far. Fermentation usually picks up nicely at 11c, and that Krausen builds up nicely.

All in all, a fairly easy technique to adopt that not only seems to enable the fermentation to pick up quicker than using yeast out of the packet, but, also over the long term could save a lot of money.

Happy days.

P.S. I don't rinse, I like the idea that the beer is sitting on top of the yeast 'baby-sitting' and keeping it nice and safe from external influences.

[Padalac]

Ok - I'm sold on this method. However, I have a few questions:

- Dirty Air. Is there a risk associated with bring your starter into contact with the air, in terms of airborne contaminants. If so, is there a way to mitigate against this without needing to invest in pure o2 delivery equipment? I wondered about using steam.

- Pitching. Do you need to decant or do you chuck the lot in, and what is the appropriate method.

-Aeration of the wort. If you are aerating the starter to that extent, do you still need to aerate the wort?

-Pitching rate / yeast growth. How can I work out the growth factor of the yeast when using this method.

thanks! apologies if any of these has been answered, but the thread is long, and I might have missed something

[BrannigansLove]

1. the risk of contamination from dirty air is probably less with SNS, than with the standard stir plate method IMO. I've never experienced any contamination using SNS.
2. I chuck the lot in (well after I've decanted 500ml off to store for next brew).
3. I aerate my wort after pitching, using a drill and paint stirrer.
4. for most beers I find a 1L pitched starter is sufficient (19-23L batch size). For high gravity beers, I'd use 1.5L.

[iwoo]

Good information.

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[McMullan]

[McMullan]

I love the bogosphere. Honestly, I don't. More importantly, why the f**k should you? Hilarious

[Paddington]

i've just had a go at this with some very old yeast and, like others, have been amazed at how quickly and vigorously fermentation took off. I wonder how much is down to the fact I shook it to foam (as opposed to a good swirl around every hour or so which is what I'd normally do) and how much is due to pitching at high krausen. I have to say, the latter does make massive sense to me, but then I am virtually oblivious to the science of how single celled organisms reproduce.

[McMullan]

What are you comparing it with, Paddy? Swirling around every hour or so? Have you tried swirling it around continuously, on a stir plate? Pitching at high krausen is fine, if you pitch sufficient cells. The yeast are programmed to ferment, not grow. There is a risk of the fermentation stalling, even if it looks spectacular early on.

[Paddington]

I've always just given it a shake very hour or so (not at night) then left it to flocculate, cool it, decant it and then pitch the yeast plus obviously a drop of medium. So far, that's worked fine for me, which is why I haven't made a stir plate so far. I might well give it a go at some point. I'm pretty new to all this so still experimenting. I'll keep an eye on that fast ferment now!!