Making starter wort, then adding yeast the next day. Doomed?

I'm planning to brew tomorrow (Sat) and wanted to make a 1200ml starter from a 1272 smack pack when I got home from work today. However the Mrs informed me last night that we have company coming over and my brewing antics will not be welcome in the kitchen.

So after some drunken thinking last night I decided to go ahead and boil up the wort needed for the starter in 2L flask then cover it with aluminum foil before turning off the heat and letting it sit. No ice bath needed since I wasn't in a hurry to pitch. My plan is to pitch the yeast into the starter when I get home tonight, which will give it 18-24 hours before I'll need to pitch into a Two Hearted clone.

Am I flirting with disaster? Should I skip the starter and pitch just the smack pack (estimated OG for this beer is 1.064). I've used just one pack in a similar OG beer without any noticeable issues, but I really wanted to get a starter going for this one.

You sir are a smart man for making a starter for the two hearted clone, I didn't and now I am having to go back and pitch more yeast. Take it from me you want a starter.

nothing wrong with your plan, i delay pitch all the time.

Thanks guys, that's just the reassurance I needed

I very often do this as well, you will be just fine.

What recipe are you doing?

I'm planning to try and harvest some Bell's yeast this weekend but haven't got a good partial mash Two Hearted Ale recipe to brew it with yet. Just itching to try my hand at yeast harvesting mostly.

aplus01 said:

What recipe are you doing?

Click to expand...

I'm going off this one - https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f69/bells-two-hearted-ale-clone-close-they-come-91488/, with some slight changes to the hop schedule to account for a FWH. Should end up around 60 IBUs. I read most of that thread, but can't remember if there is a PM conversion in there...should be easy enough tho.

I also considered harvesting yeast from oberon or the oarsmen, but hadn't used 1272 yet and wanted to give it a shot.

@BrewPhish How'd your brew day go?

I spent Friday evening harvesting some Bell's yeast. Got 5 bottles worth in 1L of wort right now. Think I could have gone w/ less wort for such a small amount of yeast. Haven't seen any airlock activity but can see a lot of yeasties in the growler. Will definitely use a clear growler next time the brown type make it tough to see the action.

Hope to put those yeast to work soon.

Brew day was great, had a buddy over to help and the only glitch was forgetting the irish moss...no biggie. We did slightly better than my usual 75% efficiency and ended up with an OG of 1.066, pretty happy about that and glad I had the starter.

I added my yeast to the starter Friday around 4pm, and pitched the whole thing about 24 hours later, looked and smelled good to me. Airlock was bubbling after about 8 hours and has pretty much stopped now. Going to let this one go for 3 weeks, then dry hop for a week or two.

Let me know how the harvested yeasties work out for you.

The sleeper has awoken! (Geek points to anyone who can name that book/movie)

Got some visible yeast activity. Airlock started bubbling just in time to keep me from messing w/ my starter. Almost cracked it open to check its gravity.

Did you go with the hop additions outlined in the recipe in the first post? A total of 5oz if I recall correctly.

I just ordered the Dead Ringer kit from Northern Brewer. That kit worked out to be cheaper than buying ingredients individually though the grain bill differs from the recipe you used. I also got some whirlfloc tablets too. That will be my first attempt at clearing up my brew. Should arrive in time to brew this weekend if I can find the time.

Think I should decant and do another starter once the 1L finishes up? Or would 1L be sufficient for a 5 gallon batch? Who knows how many yeast I've got since this was a bottle harvest.

Will be interested in comparing tasting notes w/ you once we've both got something to sample.

Hops schedule was:
.5oz @ FWH
.75oz @ 60min
1oz @ 15min
1oz @ 5min
1.25oz @ 1min
(all pellet at 9.1%)
Plus I Dogfish styled about .25oz between 30 minutes and flameout. I had that little extra left over from an earlier brew and figured what the heck. I'll probably use 1oz for dry hopping, love that fresh hop aroma.

Kinda bummed I missed the whirfloc, it does a great job. I may try some gelatin before kegging, haven't used that yet and wanted to give it a shot anyway.

Yeah, we'll have to compare notes and/or arrange a trade to see how they both turned out.

aplus01 said:

The sleeper has awoken! (Geek points to anyone who can name that book/movie)

Click to expand...

That would be Dune...

[adds points to total]

damnit, meant to include a spice mine reference in my post

Brewphish said:

damnit, meant to include a spice mine reference in my post

Click to expand...

Nicely done, azscoob! Better luck next time Brewphish.

A trade sounds like it could be fun. I'm pretty new to the game so not sure my product will be worth sharing.

I'm going to give both gelatin & whirlfloc a shot. Since I'm doing BIAB there's a good likelihood that I'll have some cloudiness.

One question: why even wait to pitch yeast to your starter? Would it cause problems to give the yeast an extra 24 hours or so to chew on the starter?

I dont know what the benefit to waiting is. I've read of folks who pitch at high krausen and others who wait till the starter finishes up then decant and pitch. I began the whole process of creating a starter last Saturday. I suppose if you were working with something store bought you wouldn't need as long as I took. Hell I could have probably done a better job of getting my starter built up. I had to step up from a bottle harvest so I waited, decanted, and fed it more low gravity wort. Then decanted again since it was almost 2L and pitched that late last night.

Who knows if I'll have any problems. I've got airlock activity so I must have done something right. Now the hard part: waiting.

@Brewphish - Got my Dead Ringer IPA (2 Hearted Ale Clone) into the fermentor last night! When's yours slated to be wrapped up?

Brewed on 5/28, will dry hop around 6/18 for 7 - 10 days, so should be kegged and carbed by the 4th of July. I'm sure it will still be a little green then, but I don't have the patience to let this one sit any longer than that