How long does a starter last?

Hey Folks. Made a starter on Sunday with Wyeast Brit Ale smackpack. Fermented beautifully (was bubbling within 30 mins) and leveled out by Tuesday. I had hoped to brew during the week, but alas it'll have to wait until this Saturday or Sunday - so up to a week from when the starter was made.

I have read there are two ideal times to pitch from a starter. One is at full kraeusen. The other is after fermentation in the starter has finished and the starter has cleared.

After it's settled out, how long can we wait before pitching and still feel confident we'll get a good, short lag time? What is the threshold where we should start considering adding more fermentables to the starter to get it up again?

My starter has been hanging out at 65 degrees for almost a week and I'm wondering if it's good to make me a nice yummy IIPA which I'm aiming for 1.080 OG.

Thoughts?

Starter is like a mini-batch of beer. You can see it as a small primary.
Well, how long can you keep your primary? I say weeks if you protect it from wild yeast. If you put an airlock, I say it is good...

I've cultured a new starter from an old bottle of wheat beer that I brew 2 months ago now.
It was good... the only thing is to make sure you step it up to have enough slurry for you 1.08 beer.

The key... keep the air out and you can leave it in room temp.. or you can store it in the fridge that'll stop any further fementation.

cheers...

Read here to see how yeast is propagated. It can be kept going for a long time if it stays clean (uninfected).

Great article. Definitely worth a read by beginners. I had no idea that aerating a starter was so important. I know it's important to have oxygen in the early stages of fermentation, but I was blinded by all the talk of oxidation. Who cares though if we're decanting off the starter wort!

I'm probably not going to be able to brew until Sunday, so I'm thinking I'm going to add some more wort at a higher gravity tomorrow morning. That'll be closer to the actual wort conditions and it'll have another 36 hours or so to build up before pitching. And, I'll shake it every time I look at it and take off the airlock!

I did mine Tuesday night and it fermented out by Thursday. 2 qts with a wash of Pac Man 2nd gen. It's good for a while but I too question if its enough for my 1.077 tomorrow. I though about adding more wort, kinda didn't have time and was a day or 2 too late. I think it'll be fine, I have a nice layer in a 1 gal bottle. If not, I have a nottingham in the fridge.

I have another question now because after reading the article above I'm thinking my starter is too small. Since I'm shooting for a big beer (1.080) I want to pitch a lot of yeast. So this morning I'm going to add some more wort and let it go for the next 24 hours or so.

My question is how to add to the starter. Should I decant what's already in there and just add new wort? Or, should I just add more on top of what's already there?

The last time I used 1 cup of DME to 1L of water, which I read yields abotu 1.040. Since I'm going to 1.080 in my beer should I make the next round for the starter 2cups of DME and 1L of water?

Thanks.

Yes, you need to read the part about stepping up to the volume of cells you need for a given brew. You can not rush this. It just takes time as in the laws of nature.

i had a situation very similar to yours- my starter ended up sitting for 5 days at room temp. on brew day, i popped it in the fridge in the morning to get a firm cake in the flask, decanted the wort and pitched. got started within a couple hours, my OG was .065. i think you'll be fine.