Is my yeast starter ready ?

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beauvafr

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It has been about 24 hours since I put the Wyeast pack in the 1.5L wort, which I made using wheat DME. No bubbles, but a thin yeast cake in the bottom.

I give it a swirl from time to time. When I do this, there a lot of foam who form on the top. Seems like this amount of foam is decreasing each time I give it a swirl. But it may be an impression..

This photo show the yeast starter shortly after a swirl.

jyK0oQWl.jpg


This one show the starter long time after a swirl.

sIyBQORl.jpg


What do you think? Ready or not?

-
 
Nope, wort is not made. I could easily wait tomorrow evening or even later to prepare it. I could put the starter in the fridge or wait for an eventual kreusen.

Will the kreusen happen between swirls? Is it always happening?
 
See the yeast layer on the bottom, that's flocked yeast. The starter is ready. The white foam on the top is the krausen, like the head on a beer it will fall in if. You stir it. Before you pitch that starter, make sure to swirl the jug and get the yeast suspended ( what's on the bottom). I generally pitch ale starters about 18 hours after I make them. Cheers.
 
Look closely at it. If you see tiny CO2 bubbles moving to the surface then it's still fermenting. Based on your second pick it looks done or close to it to me since there's a nice yeast layer on the bottom. Not all starters make a noticeable kraussen. If it's truly done though it should start to clear up as the yeast falls out of suspension. Some yeasts are more stubborn than others though and it can sometimes be hard to tell. If it were me and I wanted to brew in the next 24 hours I would probably put it in the fridge and cold crash it to get the rest of the yeast out of suspension and then pour off the excess liquid a few hours before pitching. Just be sure to bring it back to room temp before pitching.
 
When are you brewing? I would let it sit until tomorrow and then throw it in the frige for a cold crash.
 
I guess decanting depends on what beer you are making. Be warned....a short cold crash may only drop out your less attenuative yeast.....if you throw out the ones that like to hang around you might not get the attenuation you want. I only decant with delicate ales or lagers.
 
@BBL_Brewer: I used wheat dme. My recipe is only made of light DME and hops, and spices (a very simple saison). But it's a 3.5 gallon batch. And I have made a 1.5L starter.
 
chumpsteak said:
Look closely at it. If you see tiny CO2 bubbles moving to the surface then it's still fermenting. Based on your second pick it looks done or close to it to me since there's a nice yeast layer on the bottom. Not all starters make a noticeable kraussen. If it's truly done though it should start to clear up as the yeast falls out of suspension. Some yeasts are more stubborn than others though and it can sometimes be hard to tell. If it were me and I wanted to brew in the next 24 hours I would probably put it in the fridge and cold crash it to get the rest of the yeast out of suspension and then pour off the excess liquid a few hours before pitching. Just be sure to bring it back to room temp before pitching.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your answer. A couple of precisions : the layer of yeast is still very thin. The foam is only present when I swirl.

Question : when you put it in the fridge, do you put a cap on it?
 
Normally after a starter is done it will clear very well depending on the type of yeast. The wheat DME you used might be why it is not clearing. When you are stirring it you are releasing CO2 and causing it to foam a little.

Just put foil over it in the fridge. I wouldn't cap it that will just build pressure
 
36 hours now and I havent seen a lot of activity yet. The yeast layer is still there but I found it to be thin. It get foam only when I shake the thing. At this point I have 2 choices. 'Go with it' and put the starter in the fridge so I can keep the thing and start my batch in a couple of days. Or play safe and make a second step starter after decanting with now about 1 liter of word from wheat DME (my first starter was 1.5 liter). So according to yeastcalc.com I would almost double my number of cells.

What do you think?

Capture d’écran 2013-04-23 à 00.21.32.jpg
 
While trying to step it up, I stored the yeast about 16 hours in the fridge and was impatient so I tried to decant.. not really a success!

Everything was mixing when decanting, I loosed a lot of strongly hazed wort (probably with good yeast) and saw while doing it that the layer of cake was still really thin. I think it wat just not sedimented enough yet. So I stopped half way and put the da*mn thing back in the fridge. ;) Will wait again 24 hours before decanting again.

Homebrewing adventures we call it! :)
 

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