Delayed Brew Day and a question

I had planned on doing the Northern Brewer Phat Tyre this past Sunday. I preheated the cooler, gathered the equipment, sat the yeast starter out of the fridge to warm up a bit, then I opened the grain bag and realized that I forgot to check the "mill my grains" option when I ordered. My mistake, no big deal. my (not so) local homebrew shop can hook me up and I'll brew in a couple days. Well, that isn't going to happen. Turns out I need to have my Gall Bladder removed, tomorrow!

Now to the question. Is there any way to keep my yeast starter healthy for a couple weeks. It's back in the refrigerator now, but I'm not sure if I need to take any additional steps.

I have pitched starters after 3-4 weeks in the fridge with good results. I wouldn't worry too much about it. You could plan on stepping it up one more time a couple of days before you brew to get the yeast up and active again if you feel the need, but there will still be plenty of healthy, viable yeast ready to do the job if you don't. Just my 2 cents.
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Yep, should be fine in the fridge. Make sure you got it capped well, maybe with an airlock as there is a lot of bacteria inside the average fridge. Other than that you should have a couple months as long as the original yeast wasn't right at it's expiration date. Even if the expiration date was close you could step the starter up again when you are ready to brew and probably be OK.

Good luck with the surgery, sounds like it was sudden notice. Hope you heal up quickly.

Cheers

Thanks for the quick responses.

The airlock is installed and the mind is at ease. I will definitely step it up before use.

One more quick piece of info.

When you put a room temp beverage with airlock in the fridge as it cools the air and liquid in the container contracts some and can create a vacuum that sucks in the fluid in the airlock.

Some people use diluted starsan or vodka in the airlock which won't hurt the starter if it gets sucked in. I suppose boiled water would be a similiar situation. I would think pre chilling before you put the airlock on is another way around that.

Cheers.

Zen_Brew said:

One more quick piece of info.

When you put a room temp beverage with airlock in the fridge as it cools the air and liquid in the container contracts some and can create a vacuum that sucks in the fluid in the airlock.

Some people use diluted starsan or vodka in the airlock which won't hurt the starter if it gets sucked in. I suppose boiled water would be a similiar situation. I would think pre chilling before you put the airlock on is another way around that.

Cheers.

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Thanks for the info. Actually I already had the starter in the fridge, but I still had foil covering the mouth. I just sanitized the airlock and stopper with iodophor solution and used some of the solution in the airlock, just to be safe.

Looks like I might be brewing this weekend or next after all. Some friends are going to help with the lifting in exchange for some homebrew. Funny how that works

Excellent!

I brew beer with a little help from my friends
Gonna try with a little help from my friends
Catch a buzz with a little help from my friends

Can I leave a starter at room temp for a week, thought I was brewing last weekend too but I got too lazy. It's Wyeast 1010