Mr. Malty acurracy?

[Jam095]

I am churning up a yeast starter for the first time in awhile. So I plug the numbers into Mr. Malty, and as I remember from last time, the starter size seems awfully large for the beer im brewing. Just received a fresh Wyeast Activator with production date (2/4/14) which is obviously not super fresh, but still well within usable window. Mr. Malty says for o.g. of 1.051 with this production date, to use two packages and make a 1 liter starter. Or for one package, to make a 1.9 liter starter. Given that Wyeast doesn't call for a starter at all for an ale under 1.060, this seems like a lot... currently have a 1 liter starter with one package on the stir plate. Advice?...

[KennyPurcell]

I am no yeast expert by any means but I've noticed that there are several yeast calculators and can sometimes give very different values. I've heard some podcasts with Kai Troester and the calculators out there with K. Troester or Braukaiser come from his studies (http://braukaiser.com). In my experience, these calculators tell me that I will have a higher cell count than the calculations from White and Zainesheff outlined in their Yeast book (or from MrMalty). I am not sure which is right so I usually just shoot for somewhere in the middle.

There are a couple of websites that I have bookmarked since the first one kept going down a while ago.
http://yeastcalculator.com
http://www.yeastcalc.co/yeast-pitch-rat ... calculator
http://www.brewersfriend.com/yeast-pitc ... alculator/

Looks like I need to read the Yeast book if I want to actually understand where they are getting their models.

[sirgiovanni]

I never make starters larger than 3.5 liters for 10 gallon batches with sometimes, pretty high alcohol levels. However, I always step up on a stir plate from vials that I culture myself so it's very difficult to make any kind of calculation with what I'm doing.

The key is to have healthy yeast cells, put into a high oxygen wort environment. If it is too small of a starter, you will have too many rounds of growth which will effect the flavor. Sometimes this is a good thing as it will add flavors you are looking for, other times not so good if you are trying to win a medal. Too much yeast and you will limit the flavor impact.

I try to keep in mind how far my brewing has gone. This club has been a great resource for such discussions to get you to think, just don't put too much stress on yourself over it all. There are people buying old packs and being too impatient for growth, then dumping them straight into the fermenter. But they make beer in the end

If you are smaking, swelling, then growing, you are on a good path over that other guys stage in life. If it were me in your situation, I'd make a 1 liter on a stir plate and then sip a homebrew.

[BREWsmith]

What Jimmy said...especially the homebrew sipping part.

[Jam095]

Thanks gentlemen!