Sounds like its working then! I rarely see much activity in a starter, except some creamy goodness if a stir bar is going. And some bubbling activity. But no real krausen
I havnt heard that before. Thats interesting. Ive always aerated the starter wort before pitching the yeast into it, like I would a batch or wort, then put an airlock (S-type bubbler) on it. Is that not a good way to do it??
Xtant said:From what I've read ( mostly in this thread) it's how the yeast work. In the presence of oxygen, they eat and happily multiply. Without oxygen, they eat and produce alcohol, but don't reproduce at the same rate when oxygen is present.
When brewing, you oxygenate the wort to kick start the reproduction. The yeast multiplies, then the oxygen runs out and they start making your alcohol.
Alcohol isn't the goal of a starter. The goal is increasing viable yeast and getting them geared up to produce alcohol once you pitch. That being the goal, an oxygen-rich environment is idea for your starter in order to encourage reproduction.
That's why stir plates are used. They keep the yeast suspended and increase the surface area exposed to oxygen with the vortex...
From what I've read ( mostly in this thread) it's how the yeast work. In the presence of oxygen, they eat and happily multiply. Without oxygen, they eat and produce alcohol, but don't reproduce at the same rate when oxygen is present.
That's why stir plates are used. They keep the yeast suspended and increase the surface area exposed to oxygen with the vortex...
Could you get a similar effect as the stirplate with an aquarium air pump? As long as you set up some kind of filter on the incoming air and maybe went for a different shaped (tall and narrow?) flask. Maybe mount the air input inside a tube which is then set inside the flask to make sure you got maximum liquid movement.
So, I've read through most of this thread, about 125 pages worth and haven't come across this yet.
I have yeast from a porter, WLP002, I racked the beer out of the primary into bottling bucket this weekend, pre-boiled and sanitized two mason jars, and poured the yeast cake into the mason jars. I'm hoping to brew this beer this weekend. My plans were to reuse the yeast from the porter. And, yes I realize there might be some minute porter character, which might be good in this.
My question is the yeast in the jars doesn't seem to be "white." I have only decanted them once, shortly after removing it from the fermenter, but there doesn't seem to be much of a change in the color of the yeast.
Picture in next post is what the yeast looks like.
mtnagel said:Next time, just try doing a little less time. For this one you'll just need a bigger starter. No bid deal.
I just found this site to buy vials, similar to white labs', for saving yeast. I didn't know that they were soda bottle blanks! Neat. http://www.hometrainingtools.com/giant-test-tubes-6-pack-baby-soda-bottles/p/CE-TTBSB06/
Cheers,
Artchemical
Primary: Belgian Wit (brewed with Earl Grey tea)
Primary #2: Kristmas Kölsch (brewed with Carmel Apple tea and baked apples)
Bottled: American Brown (brewed with oak and bourbon)
Bottled: Assam Scottish Ale (brewed with Assam black tea)
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