First time starter question

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benzy4010

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Made a starter last night. After 11 hours it doesn't look like much is happening.

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Looks good, that ring of CO2 bubbles on the edges is a sign of yeast activity. Also, the foamy stuff on the top looks like a light krausen forming.
 
Just used a starter for the first time myself a few days ago. Made a 900ml starter for WLP023 and put it on a stirplate for just shy of 48 hours.

Since I used a stirplate, my starter was a tad foamy, but I let it sit for a few hours before pitching, and the yeast was clearly starting to fall to the bottom. I agree with opteek, you have CO2 and a thin layer of krausen beginning to form. Just stir that bad boy every time you walk by and watch out during your fermentation... see below.

Made beer on Wednesday afternoon, around 3pm, this is how the fermentation is going 37 hours later... For the record, I've NEVER had such an aggressive fermentation. 6.5 gallon better bottle, 5.25 gallons of wort, first blow off tube ever needed by me, jestmaty
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Have you shaken it at any time in those 11 hours? Used a stir plate?

If not, give it a shake now and then to get the oxygen going.
 
I've shaken it twice one befor bed around midnight I was up late doing paper work and then this am around 7 am no stir plate yet
 
Brew day is tomorrow so just want to make sure it's gonna be ready. So it looks normal?
 
I have yeast nutrient when does that go in? I'd think after putting the beer in the better bottle
 
I can see from the line of bubbles along the ring of your starter liquid that you have fermentation going on. You should be fine, but in the future I would try to at least shake more than twice a day. If you can afford it, a stir plate is a very nice investment.
 
I've only used yeast nutrient once before, instructions said to throw it in the last 10-15 minutes of the boil. Your yeast looks to be doing just fine and for $45 shipped to your house (lifetime warranty), you could look into www.stirstarters.com.

A local facebook page poster here in westHouston turned me onto that link. Bought one and it shipped very quickly. Works like a charm! Made my fermentation go NUTS!

Edit: Oh yea.. look on Austin Homebrew's page about the yeast nutrient they sell. I was suprised that it called for use during the boil, but I followed their instructions anyway. Did I see anything out of the ordinary? No... but it couldn't hurt to use the stuff. Again, I'm not sure what nutrient you're using, but www.austinhomebrew.com sells their version of nutrient and it went in the boil:)
 
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After 8 hours from first pic
 

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Well brew day is now this Thursday so it is in the fridge. Guess I have to decant on Thursday. How long do they last in fridge and do I let it just sit or do I swirl it when I can?
 
As I mentioned before, I just used a starter AND stirplate for the first time last Monday. Mine stirred for just about 44 hours, from afternoon on Monday to mid morning Wednesday... pitched at 3pm Wednesday.

My guess is your yeast will have an obvious line where it separates from the wort and you can just slowly pour off the wort, leaving the yeast slurry behind.

Most will leave a little wort behind to have some liquid to stir the yeast up.. if not, you'll be pouring something like syrup down the flask into the fermenter.

Good luck Thursday, keep us posted if you can ;)
 

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