Crash cooling starters

[brewinhard]

Looking forward to brewing with some 2 brett starters that have not yet completed their jobs. Any thoughts on crash-cooling these even if they are not done fully fermenting out the (1/2 gallon starters)? Or should I just be patient, let them finish, and brew when they have fully attenuated? I do understand I will probably have less yeast cell counts if I do crash cool then if I let them finish fully. They have already hit their peak krausen... Please help!

[Ted]

I just finished re-listening to Brew Strong Yeast Starters, and Jamil, Doc and Palmer all suggest that you actually pitch near high krausen. Check out the show at time 55min in. They don't speak to Brett specifically, and I know brett takes a little more time, but they say that unless you are stepping up or chill it down, you want to keep it going vs letting the yeast start to shut down near the end of fermentation. They also do not advise you crash cooling.
Good luck with the brett. I'm right in the middle of my first experiment with brett, I pitched a smack pack of brett-b into about a gallon and a half (so I didn't need to make a starter), and it's doing a pretty good job, dropped from 1063 to 1010 in 2 weeks.
Let me know how it turns out.

[boobookittyfuk]

i think that crash cooling yeast starters is a joke. Why spend the time and effort making a starter if you are only going to put those yeast cells back to a dormancy just before their big task? If you are making larger than 2L or half gallon starters, you should use two packages of yeast.


I've made three brett beers. The first one sucked complete ass. The second one was awesome...and the third is awesome too. They improved because after the first beer, I realized that you MUST make a 7-10 day starter with purchased Brett. Brett is super slow to start.

good luck and be patient.

[brewinhard]

How big of a starter did you make for your brett beer? Just a liter and pitched it while high krausen? The only worry I have of not chilling a 1/2 gallon starter is that it seems like a the starter is exposed to lots of excess oxygen and could possibly contribute to oxidized flavors in the final product if not decanted first. Are you recommending a 2 package pitch into a 1/2 gallon starter or more, or just ditch the starter and pitch two packages directly into the fermenter?

[ChrisKennedy]

i think that crash cooling yeast starters is a joke. Why spend the time and effort making a starter if you are only going to put those yeast cells back to a dormancy just before their big task? If you are making larger than 2L or half gallon starters, you should use two packages of yeast.


I've made three brett beers. The first one sucked complete ass. The second one was awesome...and the third is awesome too. They improved because after the first beer, I realized that you MUST make a 7-10 day starter with purchased Brett. Brett is super slow to start.

good luck and be patient.

Eh, you aren't hurting their viability by crash cooling it if they had enough sugars and nutrients to begin with. This is obvious if you have ever repitched yeast off of another batch. The yeast is quite quick to start up, and that is basically the same thing as crashing your starter.

I will always prefer larger starters over more yeast packages because of the significant cost savings.

[boobookittyfuk]

Eh, you aren't hurting their viability by crash cooling it if they had enough sugars and nutrients to begin with. This is obvious if you have ever repitched yeast off of another batch. The yeast is quite quick to start up, and that is basically the same thing as crashing your starter.

I will always prefer larger starters over more yeast packages because of the significant cost savings.

are you comparing cold crashing a starter versus adding wort to a yeast cake?

[boobookittyfuk]

How big of a starter did you make for your brett beer? Just a liter and pitched it while high krausen? The only worry I have of not chilling a 1/2 gallon starter is that it seems like a the starter is exposed to lots of excess oxygen and could possibly contribute to oxidized flavors in the final product if not decanted first. Are you recommending a 2 package pitch into a 1/2 gallon starter or more, or just ditch the starter and pitch two packages directly into the fermenter?

my suggestion if you are doing a 5 gallon batch with all brett is to make a 1L starter 7-10 days before you brew the beer. seven days on a stir plate should do fine.

with purchased brett (either white labs or wyeast), do a starter! they give you like 1/1000th of the amount of brett as compared to when you buy saccharomyces.

[ChrisKennedy]

are you comparing cold crashing a starter versus adding wort to a yeast cake?

I am comparing cold crashing a starter with using harvested yeast, yes. In breweries, you cold crash a beer and then harvest the yeast. Viability tests if you harvest near the time when fermentation ended are almost always 98%+, and fermentation is very quick to start up.

My point is that you are not being counterproductive by cold crashing starters. The yeast are still rip raring to go if you cold crash the starter.