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edits
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added recommendation for using a dedicated Erlenmeyer flask for Lacto starters
===General Advice===
====Starters and Pitching Rate====
In addition to the starter information given in the [[Lactobacillus#Manufacturer_Tips|Manufacturer Tips]] above, this section includes general advice for ''Lactobacillus'' starters for homebrewers and brewers. For growing ''Lactobacillus'' in a lab environment, or from an initial grouping of cells from a plate/slant or smaller cell count, MRS media is the most efficient growth media. However, for full pitches of ''Lactobacillus'' in beer/wort, brewers probably don't want to add that much MRS media to their beer since MRS media has a distinct odor and smell that would not be desirable in beer <ref>[https://www.facebook.com/groups/MilkTheFunk/permalink/1152135114814701/?comment_id=1152674674760745&offset=0&total_comments=9&comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R0%22%7DConversation with Lance Shaner and Nick Impellitteri on Lacto starters on MTF. 09/22/2015.]</ref>. Therefore, growing ''Lactobacillus'' in a wort-based starter media is recommended for building full pitches of ''Lactobacillus''. We recommend using an Erlenmeyer flask dedicated to growing ''Lactobacillus'' in order to lower potential for yeast contamination. We also recommend using [[Lactobacillus#Samuel_Aeschlimann.27s_Starter_Procedures|Samuel Aeschlimann's Starter Procedures]]. See [[Lactobacillus#External_Resources|External Resources]] for additional starter guides.
A good pitching rate for ''Lactobacillus'' is 100-125 billion cells per 5 gallons of wort. Having a manufacturer supply a cell count or doing a cell count manually after growth in a starter, and then pitching an exact cell count is the best approach to achieving the desired pitching rate. However, counting cells of ''Lactobacillus'' under a microscope can be difficult to achieve due to the small size of bacteria cells, so starter volumes are generally used instead when talking about pitching rates for ''Lactobacillus'' <ref>[https://www.facebook.com/groups/MilkTheFunk/permalink/1068323126529234/?comment_id=1068337639861116&offset=0&total_comments=47&comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R9%22%7D Conversation on MTF with Bryan of Sui Generis Blog. 5/6/2015.]</ref>. Pitching ~0.5-1 liter per ~20 liters of wort (~0.75-1 gallon per barrel) of ''Lactobacillus'' starter is the general guideline. Note that the exact advisable pitching rates of commercial cultures may differ from manufacture to manufacturer <ref>[https://www.facebook.com/groups/MilkTheFunk/permalink/1077639885597558/ MTF thread started by Brad Primozic. 5/29/2015.]</ref>, and their recommendations might differ from ours.