Starter question

[croc4]

I was wondering what is the normal starter size for a 5gal batch.
Speeking with the owner of the local brew shop, he said to use a 1600ml starter. So do you facter this into the batch size?, does adding this much liquid change the OG when it is pitched?

Up to now I have been using a "small" start by comparision (~2 cpus)
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[MagTheGrate]

I almost always buildup a 1/2 gallon starter. If I'm doing a high-gravity beer, I'll actually build up a full gallon starter.

Some people dump the whole starter in their wort, but I prefer to decant off most of the liquid and just dump in the slurry.

-Mag

[fuji6100]

What I do is take a small (~3 cup) sample from my boil pot at the beginning of the boil (just after adding the bittering hops)

I let this cool in a 1 quart jar (I have a nice 1 quart glass jug that takes a standard carboy stopper) airlocked in the fridge until it is about 80F (usually takes about 10-15 minutes) and then make a starter from that while the wort is boiling. THen I cool my wort in an ice bath (usually takes another hour). By this time my starter has a good foamy head on it and I pitch the whole thing.

Lag times on my 5 gallon batches usually range from 4-6 hours using this amount and I don't have to worry about my beer being "watered down" by a generic DME/water starter.

If I know I'm doing a higher gravity beer, I harvest yeast from the previous batch of beer (if it's along the same style lines) and when I make a starter from that, I get active fermentation in 2-3 hours usually.