I am going to do a 10 gallon batch. I need to ferment in two 5 gallon buckets. I am also going to do a yeast starter. Any ideas on how to go about this? 2 different yeast starters so I can put one in each. Or can I make one big one and split it(not sure how to do this).
As long as you are using the same yeast strain for both, you could do one big starter and split between the two buckets. What part are you not sure how to do? Edit: I should have mentioned that a starter for a 10 gallon batch may need to be a 'step-up' starter, depending on gravity, yeast age, etc.
10 gallons of kolsch , going to be using wyeast kolsch yeast 2565. I was just not sure how to get equal amounts of each in each bucket. Was going to use 2 vials, but do you think I could just do 1 vial and a starter? assuming the yeast is very fresh.
Splitting should not be too hard. Eyeballing should get you close enough. Or you could weigh it out if you want the split to be exact. As to whether you can make this starter from one vial (without multiple steps), just run the numbers through Mr. Malty... http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html If it turns out you need to step-up (and you don't want to use two vials in your starter), check out YeastCalc... http://www.yeastcalc.com/index.html
For my 18 gallon batches I use one vile in a one gallon starter, then pour that into a 2 gallon starter the next day and let that go for 2 days. I think you would be all set with a one gallon, one vile starter poured into another one gallon the next day, wait a day or 2, Crash, pour off the top and split between the two.
When I'm using 2 buckets and one yeast for a 10 gallon batch I boil enough wort for 2 flasks. I put about half the yeast in each flask, then pour the wort from one flask to the other 6 or 8 times. It mixes and equalizes the yeast in each flask plus adds lots of oxygen.
