I'm just getting back into brewing after having 3 kids that put some major brakes on my brewing. Also, the availability of a huge variety of beers kept a little uninterested in breaking everything out, cleaning it, and then cranking out some brews. Well, like George, I got inspired while I was on vacation and Cali and drinking Pliny, Union Jack, and all the other great beers out there. I broke everything out and had a great brew session yesterday with a Zombie Dust-inspired brew.
Anyway, Ken's "New Processes" thread tweak my interest in getting some more knowledge on some of these new ideas. In particular, I'm curious about yeast starters. I've been staying around reading the board a little bit through my break and see that now shaking may be better than stirring yeast starters. I've also read the drauflassen thread and may use that approach when I do a lager.
For this past brew, I went with my previous ways of making a starter with some DME (250g:2.5L), then boiling it for 5 minutes and crash cooling it in the sink, pitch, sit it on the stir plate at a low spin for 24 hours, then cold crash, decant and pitch.
What am I missing? What's the new process?