I'm trying to plan a yeast starter for the 1st time, making a Marzen, OG 1.050, 5gal batch, Wyeast yeast
Someone at American Homebrewers Association suggest a couple online calculators, which I tried, plus added Mr. Malty, but they all gave different results:
Brewer's Friend says 2L starter yields 419B cells
Brew United says 2L starter yields 402B cells
Mr. Malty says to get 350B, I need a 2.74L starter
I was looking at a White Labs video* and they have an Inoculation Rate Graph which says for 2L starter volume, inoculation rate 50, total cells at finish is 205B. If I'm reading their graph right, I figured I'd need a 2-stage starter, 1.5L each. I'd think I could trust White Labs more than those online calculators, so maybe I'm just not reading their chart right? WL's standard starter is a 1L starter for ales, 2L for std lagers, so that seems closer to those calculators.
I've read that there's some sort of law of diminishing returns with making bigger and bigger 1-stage starters which, I think, is the whole point of going to multi-stage starters. A 2L starter doesn't sound all that big, so the chart is now confusing me.
Can anyone else shed some light on this, please? Man, I need a beer!
* White Labs video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zUYxb-_B8A (6:12 mins into video)
PS I'm attaching a screenshot of WL's chart that's 6:12 mins into their video.
Someone at American Homebrewers Association suggest a couple online calculators, which I tried, plus added Mr. Malty, but they all gave different results:
Brewer's Friend says 2L starter yields 419B cells
Brew United says 2L starter yields 402B cells
Mr. Malty says to get 350B, I need a 2.74L starter
I was looking at a White Labs video* and they have an Inoculation Rate Graph which says for 2L starter volume, inoculation rate 50, total cells at finish is 205B. If I'm reading their graph right, I figured I'd need a 2-stage starter, 1.5L each. I'd think I could trust White Labs more than those online calculators, so maybe I'm just not reading their chart right? WL's standard starter is a 1L starter for ales, 2L for std lagers, so that seems closer to those calculators.
I've read that there's some sort of law of diminishing returns with making bigger and bigger 1-stage starters which, I think, is the whole point of going to multi-stage starters. A 2L starter doesn't sound all that big, so the chart is now confusing me.
Can anyone else shed some light on this, please? Man, I need a beer!
* White Labs video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zUYxb-_B8A (6:12 mins into video)
PS I'm attaching a screenshot of WL's chart that's 6:12 mins into their video.