Real wort starter question?

Brewed a 1.060 SG IPA today and made a Real wort starter with WLP001. This is my first attempt at this as I ran out o time yesterday, but not my first starter. How long should I let this thing ferment out 8, 16, 24 hours? I normally leave my starters on the stirplate for 24 hours? Thanks in advance

Are you pitching it in the batch you made the starter from, or are you pitching it in a different batch? You probably already know this, but your are supposed to pitch your starters into wort about 1040. You don't want to stress out the yeast. Maybe next time add some boiled and cooled water to bring the gravity down?

I usually listen to the yeast, they tell me when they are ready to pitch.


seriously though, once the krauzen starts to fall but there is still plenty of activity, I pitch. This was 16 hours on my last brew with a RWS and I don't dilute, it's the same beer.

Sorry. I'm pitching into the same IPA. I'm sure many of you know how it is, 2 year old and 2 month old don't allow much preparation for things. I've got the beer sitting at 66 in the fermentation chamber so I guess I'll pitch after about 12 hours. I should have known the yeast would tell me what to do.
Oops. The pic is of a spontaneous fermentation experiment. Wrong thread.

Ive done a hand full of RWS's and always have let them go for around 12 hours. Never had an issue.

I guess I'm confused of the point of RWS?

I understand that it gets your yeast count up, but at what expense? You're leaving your beer unpitched and giving any bugs a chance to get going. (I see you're holding the temp at 66, but I'd think the colder you could get it, the better.) And as far as yeast replication... It was my understanding that you have to pitch a certain amount of yeast so they do not have to reproduce as many times before they get through all the sugars. Too many reproductions = more esters, right? Hence why with a starter you use a lower gravity wort so they are not stressed out, then you decant to get rid of the [now beer] that is potentially estery and most likely oxidized, especially if you used a stir plate or intermittent shaking. And if you're pitching from the starter after 12 hours, you are likely not decanting. So you are adding non ideal beer to your precious wort.

I guess I'm not telling you not to do this, I'm just asking is the risk worth the reward?

My suggestion would be for 5 gallons of 1060 beer, for which you probably need just over 200 billion cells, would be to use dry yeast or buy 2 liquid yeast packages next time. Sure it's an extra $7 bucks, but for 2 cases of beer that taste better than it would have I think it's well worth it.... my $.02

JSomps6 said:

I guess I'm confused of the point of RWS?

I understand that it gets your yeast count up, but at what expense? You're leaving your beer unpitched and giving any bugs a chance to get going. (I see you're holding the temp at 66, but I'd think the colder you could get it, the better.) And as far as yeast replication... It was my understanding that you have to pitch a certain amount of yeast so they do not have to reproduce as many times before they get through all the sugars. Too many reproductions = more esters, right? Hence why with a starter you use a lower gravity wort so they are not stressed out, then you decant to get rid of the [now beer] that is potentially estery and most likely oxidized, especially if you used a stir plate or intermittent shaking. And if you're pitching from the starter after 12 hours, you are likely not decanting. So you are adding non ideal beer to your precious wort.

I guess I'm not telling you not to do this, I'm just asking is the risk worth the reward?

My suggestion would be for 5 gallons of 1060 beer, for which you probably need just over 200 billion cells, would be to use dry yeast or buy 2 liquid yeast packages next time. Sure it's an extra $7 bucks, but for 2 cases of beer that taste better than it would have I think it's well worth it.... my $.02

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I guess I could have been more clear. Normally I would have done a starter 24 hours in advance and been a slight bit more prepared. This was, the SWMBO said " weren't you going to brew today" so I figured I'd brew and attempt the RWS and get my cell count up a bit.

I do RWS's when I make a No Chill batch. The idea is to get your pitching rate up and get the yeast active/acclimated to the beer you're going to pitch it in to. Once my beer has cooled down to pitching temps (usually 12-24 hours depending on the outside temp) I pitch my RWS.

As long as you are sanitary then you can let your beer sit in a sealed fermenter for quite a while without any worry.

Not related to a RWS, but I once decided last minute to split an 8 gallon batch between two corny kegs for fermenting and pitch two different yeast strains. I had one on hand, but not the other. So I poured the chilled wort into two sanitized corny kegs. Pitche dinto one, but just sealed up the second. I bought and pitched dry yeast into the second two days later. A slong as your fermenter is sanitized, your wort can sit just fine.

I ended up pitching the starter after about 18 hours on the stir plate. The Krausen had started to fall slightly but the yeast was still very active.