First starter - KABOOM!

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
MrSpiffy

MrSpiffy

Supporting Member
HBT Supporter
Joined
Feb 11, 2012
Messages
320
Reaction score
12
Location
Loveland
I just made my first starter today over lunch. I've read to shake the starter up frequently for aeration. So, I just shook the thing up and KABOOM! Foamy mess! It settled down, but I went from 2000mL down to just over 1600mL after it foamed over. Should I add some new, sterile wort tonight to boost the yeast count before pitching tomorrow?
 
Anyone..?
ponder.gif
 
no it will be fine, let it ride, pitch tomorrow and drink great beer in 4 weeks
 
Shake it up once before u pitch. After that u just want to swirl it up every once in a while when in the room. A stir plate is the remedy.
 
Okay, so I didn't want to underpitch the yeast. So, here's what I did: I made some more starter wort to make up the difference, and added it to the starter. It should be sterilized, since it was boiled. And it was right around the same temp as the starter. Any thoughts? Good? Bad? Whatever?

I'm all for the RDWHAHB mantra, so I'm not really tweaking out about this. I just want to know SOP for if this happens again in the future.

I've been stirring it up using a sanitized racking cane, since swirling it seems to cause mostly foaming and not much to do with suspending the yeast. Every couple hours, I've started stirring it up.
 
passedpawn said:
Stir plate will help you avoid that. Good luck with your beer.
Click to expand...

I've spent enough on equipment and brewing already, just in the couple months since I started. I'm not sure SWMBO would be excited to hear that I spent another $100 on a stir plate... but that is on the wish list.

Edit: Found some sweet plans to make a stir plate. Looks easy as pie! Looks like my next project.
 
MrSpiffy said:
Okay, so I didn't want to underpitch the yeast. So, here's what I did: I made some more starter wort to make up the difference, and added it to the starter. It should be sterilized, since it was boiled. And it was right around the same temp as the starter. Any thoughts? Good? Bad? Whatever?

I'm all for the RDWHAHB mantra, so I'm not really tweaking out about this. I just want to know SOP for if this happens again in the future.

I've been stirring it up using a sanitized racking cane, since swirling it seems to cause mostly foaming and not much to do with suspending the yeast. Every couple hours, I've started stirring it up.
Click to expand...

It won't hurt anything by adding more wort. In the future you can try using Fermcap-S to help tame down the foam. In the mean time buy or build a stir-plate!

I built my stir plate for about $25.00
 
MrSpiffy said:
I've spent enough on equipment and brewing already, just in the couple months since I started. I'm not sure SWMBO would be excited to hear that I spent another $100 on a stir plate... but that is on the wish list.
Click to expand...

Lol I totally understand, you're starter is going to be perfect.
 
Should've refreshed before editing. Sauffbier, I just noticed some DIY plans for stir plates. Looks like it's super cheap to make one. Just a box, fan, magnets, power supply, and potentiometer. I think I even have something already half-built to harvest some of this stuff from. Yay projects!! WOOHOO!
 

Similar threads

H
Yeast starter not starting
Replies
16
Views
1K
HB2112
H
H
Imperial Juice
Replies
1
Views
278
day_trippr
day_trippr
E
Dbl batch... Different gravities?
Replies
14
Views
703
electric brewing for me
E
D
Has my starter gone bad?
Replies
2
Views
644
davidtraher
D
brewSJ
Help with Belle Saison
Replies
7
Views
971
Sipina
Sipina
CornyKegs 300

Latest posts

Back
Top