I should have used a blowoff tube...

I think I'll be alright, but this morning I woke up to a gunky mess coming out of my yeast starter. The airlock (wish I used a blowoff tube) was filled with yeast/wort & quite a bit of yeast/wort had spilled out onto the table.

I'm using a 2L erlenmeyer flask & figured I'd have plenty of room since I was only doing a 1.2L starter on a stir plate. I had just stepped up from a 1.2L starter that I cold crashed & decanted, but it appears that I underestimated the power of the yeast.

After encountering my morning suprise, I popped off the airlock, rinsed & cleaned, sanitized, refilled with vodka, & replaced it. I'm hoping that everything will be ok.

How exciting! My first batch & I've already decided that even for my yeast starters, I will use a blowoff tube from now on.

Never underestimate the power of the schwartz...er yeast!
Tomorrow is brew day, just hoping I didn't infect my starter...

the75 said:

My first batch & I've already decided that even for my yeast starters, I will use a blowoff tube from now on.

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Better yet, cover the flask with a napkin fastened with a rubber band.

NineMilBill said:

Better yet, cover the flask with a napkin fastened with a rubber band.

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+1 on this. I think I've read on here you want your starter to be able to breathe to help the yeast do their thing. I don't use any airlock/tube with my starters and I've never had any issues.

I use loose fitting foil on mine with a stir plate from www.stutstarters.com

BrightSpot said:

I use loose fitting foil on mine with a stir plate from www.stutstarters.com

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damn... www.stirstarters.com

bobeer said:

+1 on this. I think I've read on here you want your starter to be able to breathe to help the yeast do their thing. I don't use any airlock/tube with my starters and I've never had any issues.

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This is interesting, because I was thinking the same thing in regards to allowing oxygen to get in for the yeast.
I guess my question would be, why would we use an airlock/blowoff tube on a primary & not a starter? Aren't they doing relatively the same thing?

the75 said:

I guess my question would be, why would we use an airlock/blowoff tube on a primary & not a starter? Aren't they doing relatively the same thing?

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The purpose of a starter is to increase the number of healthy yeast cells.

The purpose of fermentation is to let a sufficient number of healthy yeast cells consume the sugars and produce alcohol and CO2.

cfonnes said:

The purpose of a starter is to increase the number of healthy yeast cells.

The purpose of fermentation is to let a sufficient number of healthy yeast cells consume the sugars and produce alcohol and CO2.

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I understand the purpose of each, but aren't yeast consuming sugar, producing alcohol & CO2 in a starter as well or am I not understanding the difference? I know the time in a yeast starter is much shorter than a fermentor, but it seems like the same concept..basically just yeast doing what they are supposed to do. Isn't making a yeast starter essentially making a small batch of beer? I've been trying to read & learn as much as I can in a VERY short period of time, but after reading so much & watching so many "instructional" videos, I may have misunderstood or confused explanations.

Oxygen is needed to increase the number of healthy yeast, the problem is that oxygenated beer tastes bad. We decant the liquid off of a starter so we do not care how it tastes, so we try to ensure that the yeast have an abundance of oxygen.

During fermentation we are not as concerned with increasing the number of healthy yeast, but we are concerned about beer tasting bad, so we try to limit the oxygen to the amount that the yeast will use while consuming the sugars.

DIG IT!! That makes great sense!! Thx for helping.

the75 said:

After encountering my morning suprise, I popped off the airlock, rinsed & cleaned, sanitized, refilled with vodka, & replaced it. I'm hoping that everything will be ok.

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Is there any particular reason to use vodka in your air lock? I use water, and it would make me nervous to have vodka bubble up and into the starter/sort during super active fermentation, the kind with nonstop bubbles

cfonnes said:

Oxygen is needed to increase the number of healthy yeast, the problem is that oxygenated beer tastes bad. We decant the liquid off of a starter so we do not care how it tastes, so we try to ensure that the yeast have an abundance of oxygen.

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Maybe a stupid question, but do you have to discard of the liquid in the starter and only keep the yeast cake? I just poured both the liquid and yeast cake into my primary. It was my first time making a starter.

Kevin

chinkson said:

Is there any particular reason to use vodka in your air lock? I use water, and it would make me nervous to have vodka bubble up and into the starter/sort during super active fermentation, the kind with nonstop bubbles

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I've read about using vodka & starsan in my airlock to prevent infection. From what I gathered, microbes & other bacteria can grow in a liquid that does not have the ability to sanitize. I went with vodka because it's already prepared. HOWEVER, after reading the responses on this thread, I'll no longer use an airlock, since it doesn't allow oxygen to get into my starter. I'll maybe go with foil or those foam inserts that I've seen at Northern Brewer.

Screech said:

Maybe a stupid question, but do you have to discard of the liquid in the starter and only keep the yeast cake? I just poured both the liquid and yeast cake into my primary. It was my first time making a starter.

Kevin

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I'm only on my first brew, but I've read a lot of threads & it all depends on preference. The cons of pouring the starter liquid in your beer is unwanted taste & slightly dilluted beer. The pros of decanting or pouring off most of the starter liquid is that you're only introducing healthy, active yeast into your beer. I threw my starter in the fridge overnight to cold crash & I've got a nice thick sludge of yeast hanging out ready to go for TODAY'S BREWDAY!

Vodka in an airlock will kill any microbes that get in and if any gets into the beer it will do no harm to the beer.

Plain water can breed microbes that could infect your beer if it gets sucked back into the fermenter.

Starters:

Use foil or a foam stopper for your starters. You want oxygen in the starter to make the yeast reproduce. Oxidation/ off flavors are not a concern in the starter. If you are worried you can decant.

Decanting is optional. With an average gravity beer the starter is not so big that it would affect the taste of the beer significantly. If I have time I decant, if not I pitch at high krausen. About 18 hours on the stirplate.

When making a high gravity beer with a large starter it is probably best to decant.

I go with foil and spray it down with starsan first, because I'm paranoid like that. And if you don't have a stir-plate you should get/make one. In the DIY section there are a few make-it-yourself designs. Made mine with a spare cigar case and all up it was under 20 bucks. You possibly already have parts around your house that can bring that cost down further (like an old phone charger)

I'd also consider going to the dollar store and getting a spray bottle. I always have a spray bottle of star-san around. It's so cheap and really goes a long way. I spray my keg connections down, my bottle rack...heck, I spray everything down I can...including my hands and then anything I am going to touch before and after. Again, just in case