Yeast starter problems

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FatherT515

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I have a couple of concerns about the yeast starter I made up this evening (its my first one...)

First, I think I may have pitched a bit too hot. My little thermometer was saying ~85 when I pitched. Am I screwed?

Second, I had intended on covering my growler filled with wort/yeast with a sanitized aluminum foil cap. After I had the boil rolling I realized that we were all out of foil, so I got an airlock ready to use and stoppered it in when the time came. About an hour later, roommate comes home from the store and happens to have more foil. For some reason I felt it was necessary to remove the airlock and go with the original plan. Was it stupid of me to open the growler back up?

And finally, I am planning on brewing tomorrow afternoon. If everything goes according to plan, I'll be pitching the starter a little under 24 hours after starting it. Is the starter too young to use? I know it may not be 'finished', but does that make it bad to add to a larger wort? If not, should I decant the other fluid off or just pour it all in?

Thanks in advance
 
Pitching temperature was high but I am sure enough cells will survive 85°F.

Opening the growler is of course increasing the chance of infection but odds are you will be ok there.

24 hours would be ok from my experience using a stir plate. I recommend if you have not got one then shake the growler often.
 
1temp is fine although modt people run there starters around 70 degrees85 wont kill the yeast. 110 will start to kill them and 120 and they are all toast. Anything over 100 degrees and I would worry about viability but your temp is fine. One concern is the.yeast dont like rapid change in temp this wont kill them out right but it will knock them around a bit.


2 Opening the starter is not a problem as long as you did it quickly and sanitised the foil you chose the right option. Remember the microbes are not queuing up waiting for you to open your starter just dont open and leave it or open it in a drafty place/outside where air current can bring you more nasties. If you are paranoid you can light a candel and work right next to the candel as the up draft of the flame discourages dust (which contains microbes) from falling in your starter.

3 Timing your staters is the hard bit if the yeast vial/smackpack is healthy youmight be able to brew but chances are it wont be ready in future do your stater 3 or 4 days in advance and when they are xomplete crash cool in the fridge for 24 -48hrs then you can decant and just pitch the slurry. Other wise you can try to time it so you pitch all the starter at high krausen.

Clem
 
I also have a yeast starter issue. I harvested yeast from a previous batch WLP320 (American Hefe), and stored it in my fridge for the last 4/5 months. I didn't use a starter on the initial batch so I'm not sure how this yeast typically responds in a starter.

Ive been doing all starters in a 1.75L juice container, since day one, with no issues. I sanitize the container, and screw the cap on very loosely to allow the CO2 to escape.

Anyways, this Hefe yeast is more active than any yeast I've previously created a starter with. I'm getting blowoff/overflow on my bottle each day. Is this normal? If I simply clean up and let it continue, might this still give me a good enough cell count (of uninfected) yeast for a 5 gallon batch? I'm mostly concerned with infection, but I'd like to stay on schedule to brew this weekend also.
 
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