Got Overly Excited about a Yeast Starter...

Hey All:

Quick question: I just created a yeast starter using Beer Geek Nation instructions here: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMhFerNTwbQ]Homebrew 101: Making a Yeast Starter | Beer Geek Nation Beer Reviews - YouTube[/ame]

The problem is this: I'm brewing on Monday, Jan 2. Do I let this starter whirl around on the stir plate that long? Or do I let it go 12-24 hours and then...do something else with it?

Thanks!
John

either or IMO... However I would let it go a couple of days then stick it in the fridge. then when it is time to brew, pour the clear liquid off of the top and leave just enough to swirl up the settled yeast then dump it in the wort.

i would go 24 hrs then stick it in the fridge. I think it was palmer who said the yeast do most of the work in the first 4 hours, leaving on starter too long isnt helping anything.

It should ferment out in a day or so and there is no need to beat up the yeast for a couple more days on the plate. As Steve mentioned above "let it go a couple of days then stick it in the fridge." If you just made this then I would stick in the fridge Sat morning depending on how it looks. If its super turbid Fri morning then I would prob put it in the fridge Fri afternoon

I'll be making a yeast starter in the next few days. I don't have a stir plate, how often should I swirl it around? Or should I just leave it alone?

Just swirl it around when you have a moment. The more the better. I try to do it any time I walk by the starter.

Stir plating a starter accelerates growth compared to the swirl when walking by method. So, yes, when you don't have the starter on a stir plate, a couple days is common, but, if you are stirplating the starter then 24+ hours is not helping. There is a point in which too much stirplating can occur. I wouldn't go past 24 hours. There is good info about this from jamil and Palmer .

add more sugar liquid and make bigger! toss it in the fridge on the morning of the first. then sanitize a canning jar and put half in the canning jar in the fridge for later and pitch the rest. you have plenty of time... might as well propagate more yeast

I made a starter yesterday as I was planning on brewing tomorrow. I won't be brewing now until tuesday or wednesday. Can I keep the starter at room temperature until then and just let it do its thing, or should I put it in the fridge at some point? Also, it's only like half a liter, should I perhaps boil up a bit more DME and add it in? It will be going into 5 gallons of stout which will hopefully have an OG of 1.046.

I'd just make it bigger. Your yeasties will thank you.

You could make it bigger and go for another 18 hours, then put it in fridge.

I was thinking about why it shouldn't be longer than 24 hrs and i remembered that when the yeast finish multiplying on the starter, 5-18 hours, they run out of sugar and start eating each other. so, when they are stirplated for 18-24 hours, stick them in the fridge so they go dormant, you dont want them multiplying and then eating each other with the last of their energy reserves.

Thanks a lot, I put it in the fridge last night after I read this. Today I'm going to boil up some more DME and make it bigger.