worried about my starter

hey all,

i usually make my starter roughly 24 hours before i brew. I've always done the same thing using the ratio of 3oz of dme to 1L of water. I add some o2 and yeast nutrient, put it on the stir plate and 24 hours i usually have some krauzen or at least pretty good foam head. Well, I got home late last night and didnt get my starter made until bout 11pm. I did the same as always and now today, I am not sure if its just the time lapse or if something is wrong as i see no visible signs. I stopped the stir plate for a lil while to see if it would form a layer on the bottom...it did start to form one so I shook it around and back on the stir plate. after I shook it around i see little white flakes on the surface, i've never seen that before. Should I be worried i have a dead starter or just RDWHAHB and wait a few hours before i start brewing to give it a while before i pitch. hopefully someone is on that can help! lol

Could run to LHBS, grab some dry yeast just in case it doesn't pick back up by the time you're ready to pitch... Or grab a couple vials... Not sure what the white flakes are, unless it is from the nutrient, but it would scare me also... good luck

Checking the gravity is really the only way you'll know if the yeast have done their job.
It seems that visible activity and kräusen are not really a good measure of starter viability.
But if you have a nice layer of yeast at the bottom, most likely it's good to use.

well...it had started to foam a little by the time my brew was over, so i just pitched it last night. woke up this morning to happy yeasts eating away the sugars....it doesnt look as vigorous as it usually does so may be a slow fermenter but still going none the less.

thanks!