How long to use stirplate?

Ok, used my stirplate last night for the first successful time w/o throwing the magnet...

do you guys let it spin until you are ready to brew? or X amount of hour intervals?

I woke up this morning with some of the stuff dripping out the top, so I turned it off.. was just trying to figure out what to do here.

It's kreusening and ready to pitch.

I've left mine on for 3 days. It looked like cottage cheese as it was falling to the bottom.

yeah it is kreusening..

do you think it will be good until tonight.. I turned off the stirplate so it doesnt overflow....

sorry I am still new to the idea of starters...

See http://www.mrmalty.com/pitching.php.

This is one of the most informative articles I've ever seen on starters.

-a.

Great read!

It takes me 3-5 days to make a starter becasue I step it up to grow alot of yeast.
I make a 1000ml for a day or 2 on the stir plate, I let it sit so the yeast will fall out then decant. I now pour this into a 2000ml stater and let it grow a few days and then into the fridge to crash the yeast. On brew day I take it out to warm up to room temp and then decant again and back on the stir plate for a few hours until ready to pitch. Been working so far for me.

I listened to an interview with David Logsdon from Wyeast, and he said something interesting. A starter can actually do more harm than good if you let it go too long.

I believe the argument was that if you go too long and the yeast use up all the sugars/nutrients in the starter, they will start depleting their own energy reserves and go dormant. Pitching yeast in this state will not give you as quick or vigorous a fermentation as 'fresh', lively yeast, nor will they be able to reproduce and grow as quickly (particularly if the wort is under-aerated). Presumably, this could lead to attenuation problems and/or off-flavours. Makes sense, and it probably applies to waiting too long to pitch your smack packs too. This is something I am going to start being more careful about.

As long as your clean you can't really do it wrong. You have live, healthy yeast, and you are giving them good food. You can stir for 12 hr and leave it or stir the whole time for up to three days, or not stir at all. If I'm stepping up from a slant I usually stir for 24 hr, add more wort, repeat, add more wort, repeat, then leave for 12-24hr, chill, decant and start over if I still need more yeast (10g batch or lager, e.g.)
Apparently if you're going to chill it before pitching it you must let it completely finish fermenting and build up its glycol reserves. Then when you chill it can drop out and go dormant for up to two weeks before I worry about feeding it.
If you really like overkill (and I do) I'll take a cup or so of my first runnings, dilute to about 1.040-50, boil for 10m in a saucepan while I'm lautering, chill it and use it to feed the starter. When I'm ready to pitch two hours later, it's awake and ready to party
But again, you can't go wrong. If it's overflowing that just means you need a smaller starter or bigger flask.

Here's another great read on yeast culturing:
http://www.maltosefalcons.com/tech/MB_Raines_Guide_to_Yeast_Culturing.php

strange when i use a stir plate i never get a head to form, the yeast just seem to reproduce and don't bother with krausening, by any chance were you using an airlock.
I don't, i want the yeast to have as much acess to oxygen as they can because they require the oxygen to reproduce efficently, if you have an airlock when they use up the small amount of oxygen available to them they will stop reproducing and go into anaerobic fermenation mode which isn't really what you are looking for in a starter.

no i wasnt using an airlock.. i had a foam stopper in there...

A foam stopper should have allowed plenty of gas exchange, so there goes that theory, maybe as someone else said its just time for a bigger flask.

I always use a stirplate. I usually make the starter 2 days before the brew. This gives it enough time to ferment completely and the yeasties will store up energy for the next big feast. I read somewhere that this was the way to do it, but now I'm thinking I might try pitching during high krausen. I have not been getting the best attenuation lately. Oh, and I have had several blowoffs using the stirplate. I need a bigger flask I think.

jdoiv said:

I need a bigger flask...

Click to expand...

Same old story...Isn't that what she said???

if it turns to butter then you had is on to long.