Slight sour smell in starter. Throw away?

Hello my friends,

I have made a 3000ml starter of wyeast #3944.

I made a 1000ml first that i fermented to finish, and pitched it all into 2000ml of wort. This wort has fermented for about 48h, and there is a slight sour smell coming from the bottle. It is not strong, but it is definatly there.

Reminds me of a sour ive felt from a wyeast wheat yeast I once made a starter with.

I was wondering what you think of this, keep or chuck it?

Marius

If you're confident of your sanitation practices it should be ok.

Maybe its just me since I've been burned recently but if I ever doubt a starter anymore I won't use it. A lot cheaper, easier, and quicker to make a new starter than have a whole batch infected.

I'm sure other will chime in.

Taste it... if it tastes like balls I wouldn't use it. If it just tastes a little off then don't worry, it was an unhopped, high temp fermenting, overpitched beer. Thats what I would do... YMMV.

its not horrible, just a little sour I think my sanitation is alright, but I've never seen someone else brew, so I cannot compare myself to anyone who is a qualified "sanitator" Marius

When I made my 3944 starter I can't say I paid attention to its smell on the stirplate, but while fermenting it definitely had sulfur rotten egg funk for a few days (that goes away).

I'd say use it. If your sanitation is good then I would go with it. Starters don't always smell very good.