Stir plate required?

Will I need a stir plate if I am going to start washing and recycling my yeast?

no. You can just use the "shake when you walk past" method, but a stir plate makes it easier and generally would be preferred.

I used to use wine bottles and gallon jugs to make starters before I built my stir plate. A stir plate is for convenience. I can make mashed potatoes with a hand masher, but it is less labor intensive and more efficient when I use a hand mixer.

Shameless self-plug here, but I did a quick youtube video for my brewclub (I manage our yeastbank) on how to make pitchable amounts of yeast on the cheap. You'd be starting off with larger numbers of yeast than we do with the bank, so you'd want to modify the process to take that into account (i.e. jump straight into a full 2L culture; no need for the ~250ml). None-the-less, your upfront costs are a bit of DME and an empty 2L soda bottle...

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UGJ_b-MfbE"]Budget Yeast System[/ame]

Bryan

IMO A stirplate may not be REQUIRED, but there is no real godo reason not to buy or build one.

The amount of healthy yeast has been shown to be much higher with a stirplate compared to shaking every once in a while.

They are very cheap to make and not difficult ot make either.

They are not terribly expensive to purchase, if you just don't want to glue some magnets onto a computer fan and mount inside a cigar box or some other case of some sort. FYI I recommend stirstarters.com. They are built down the road and I've gotten to check out their stuff at a Homebrew event and liked what I saw. I'd have bought one from them if I didn't build my own. Pretty much all of the reviews I've seen of their stirplates have been very positive.

I am leaning towards the DIY stir plate. The next question(s) would then be how big of a flask do I need? Can it just be a mason jar? And how big should the stir bar be?

theCougfan97 said:

I am leaning towards the DIY stir plate. The next question(s) would then be how big of a flask do I need? Can it just be a mason jar? And how big should the stir bar be?

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This depends on how big your beers are. If they are under 1.05 dont bother with the stir plate. You can use whatever glass jar or flask you have, I am currently using a large pickle jar for my 2 liter starters, its great because i leave the lid on loose while fermenting and when its done it goes rite in the fridge.

theCougfan97 said:

I am leaning towards the DIY stir plate. The next question(s) would then be how big of a flask do I need? Can it just be a mason jar? And how big should the stir bar be?

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Mason jars do not have a flat bottom, so it can be hard to make them work. that said, I did use a 2L pickle jar for a year or so successfully. Flasks are better. For <1.060 ales you can get away with a 1L flask. Lagers or big ales will need a 2L (and big-gravity lagers may need upto 4L).

Stirbar capacity is dependent more on your stirplate than the flask. My stirplate turns and 1" bar fine, but has trouble with a 2"; I actually get more vigorous stirring in my 2L flask with the 1" bar than with the 2", just because the motor can turn the bar so much faster.

Again, another shameless self-plug, covering how to use a stirplate:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqip-MFW2CQ"]Stirplate[/ame]
Note that you can skip to 3:15 in the video, as the first 1/2 is an 'inside look' into my guilds yeastbank. As before, you can ignore the 250ml step if using washed yeast (or a tube/pack of commercial yeast). The small step is only required if using small yeast volumes from a bank.

Bryan

Warthaug said:

Shameless self-plug here, but I did a quick youtube video for my brewclub (I manage our yeastbank) on how to make pitchable amounts of yeast on the cheap. You'd be starting off with larger numbers of yeast than we do with the bank, so you'd want to modify the process to take that into account (i.e. jump straight into a full 2L culture; no need for the ~250ml). None-the-less, your upfront costs are a bit of DME and an empty 2L soda bottle...

Bryan

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So if I have a smack pack of Wyeast 3068 for a hefeweizen (which I'm told I should do a starter for a 5 gallon batch with an OG of 1.049-1.053) I can skip directly to the second step of this video? So how much DME and Water would I need to boil to be at step two? Also, how far ahead of time should this be made so that I can put it in the fridge for a day so that I can decant off and only pitch the slurry?

theCougfan97 said:

I am leaning towards the DIY stir plate. The next question(s) would then be how big of a flask do I need? Can it just be a mason jar? And how big should the stir bar be?

Click to expand...

Get at least a 2L. You will discover that a 1L is too small the first time you use it.

highgravitybacon said:

Get at least a 2L. You will discover that a 1L is too small the first time you use it.

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+1. If you spend a little extra and get the 2L, you won't up end having to buy two because the first one was too small.

Stir plates do allow you to make a smaller starter vs. a "simple starter" (or shake every so often) and get the same # of cells.

kebrugler said:

So if I have a smack pack of Wyeast 3068 for a hefeweizen (which I'm told I should do a starter for a 5 gallon batch with an OG of 1.049-1.053) I can skip directly to the second step of this video? So how much DME and Water would I need to boil to be at step two? Also, how far ahead of time should this be made so that I can put it in the fridge for a day so that I can decant off and only pitch the slurry?

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Exactly, skip the smaller step and go right to the big one:

1) Smack the smack-pack; let it swell
2) Prep 700ml of 1.040 wort (you'll need 70g of DME for this)
3) Add the smackpack, and stir for 24-48hrs

If using a 2L flask you should make ~1800ml (1.8L) of 1.040 wort.

But keep an eye on the number of yeast you actually need - your activator should give ~100billion, which is often enough. That, into a 1L starter will give you 250b, into 2L will give you 402B. That's more yeast than needed for most beers.

Bryan

Also, keep in mind, the date of the yeast. "According to YeastCalc" not sure if this is 100% true, but you lose about 10% viability every month past the production date.

jflongo said:

Also, keep in mind, the date of the yeast. "According to YeastCalc" not sure if this is 100% true, but you lose about 10% viability every month past the production date.

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So once I buy my dry yeast and use it the first time, it will steadily decline in its ability to reproduce? Or do you mean after use it, wash it and put it in the fridge it will slowly lose its effectiveness until I use it again?

I'm talking liquid yeast. Not sure how that pertains to dry.

jflongo said:

I'm talking liquid yeast. Not sure how that pertains to dry.

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New dry yeast, if stored in the fridge, only loses 4% of its viability each year. Harvested dry yeast is just the same as harvested liquid yeast.

BTW, if you are going to do a starter with a Wyeast smackpack, there's no need to smack the wort packet inside unless you want to.

jflongo said:

I'm talking liquid yeast. Not sure how that pertains to dry.

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I am guessing dry or wet doesn't matter, my question is really when the degradation you referred to occurs. Is it from first day of purchase or between brews while I am saving washed yeast for my next brew? The difference being in the latter scenario I would only have to buy each yeast strand once and just keep washing and reusing.

theCougfan97 said:

I am guessing dry or wet doesn't matter, my question is really when the degradation you referred to occurs. Is it from first day of purchase or between brews while I am saving washed yeast for my next brew? The difference being in the latter scenario I would only have to buy each yeast strand once and just keep washing and reusing.

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It's based on the production date. Now how this pertains to washed yeast, i'm not sure if it's based on the day of racking off it or not. Or if it's based on the production date as well, and you have to use a higher slurry. Maybe someone else can pipe in on that.