Started Yeast Starter Too Early?

I was planning to brew a lager last weekend, and postponed while working out an equipment issue. But I had already started my one gallon yeast starter two days before. I have put it in the fridge to slow things down, and I'm wondering if I'll be able to pull it back out of the fridge the day before I brew and start it back up, or if I've now ruined all my beautiful yeast.

It should be ok!

I did this last brew, planned on brewing on a Sunday and something came up and I wasn't able to brew until a week later. The yeast was fine. On brew day i decanted off the "beer" and placed the starter back on my stir plate as it warmed up to pitching temps. Fermentation started within a few hours

Yup, running a starter for a couple of days and then sticking it in the fridge for a few more days is a fine idea. Do what chemman14 said - decant the spent "beer" and let it warm to room temp slowly before pitching.

your beer is absolutely ruined and all your yeast is dead. Your life is over.



hahaha

acyl said:

your beer is absolutely ruined and all your yeast is dead. Your life is over.



hahaha

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... and you'll explode

You're actually in fine shape. There are some threads on here that explain that it is actually beneficial to cold crash a starter a couple of days before pitching. The yeast build up some energy reserves as they go dormant and this can be beneficial when pitching. You can also decant the liquid and pitch mostly yeast instead of yeast and some wort that doesn't necessarily match the beer you're making. If your starter wasn't finished before you put it in the fridge just pull it back out a couple of days ahead of time to give it a chance to finish up.

Thanks a lot! This site has taken up way too much of my time lately, and I love it.

That's my preferred way. On a stir plate for 3 days, cold crash in refrigerator for 2. On brew day, remove from refrigerator and let warm up slowly, decant and pitch.

itsme6582 said:

... and you'll explode

You're actually in fine shape. There are some threads on here that explain that it is actually beneficial to cold crash a starter a couple of days before pitching. The yeast build up some energy reserves as they go dormant and this can be beneficial when pitching. You can also decant the liquid and pitch mostly yeast instead of yeast and some wort that doesn't necessarily match the beer you're making. If your starter wasn't finished before you put it in the fridge just pull it back out a couple of days ahead of time to give it a chance to finish up.

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It's actually very important you let it finish up. The yeast build up these energy (glycogen) reserves not when suddenly forced into dormancy (such as via cold-crashing), but rather during periods of activity when the sugars are beginning to run out, in anticipation of going dormant again. The yeast can't metabolically do much of anything when cold-crashed.

So if it was already cold-crashed before fermentation finished, it's not exactly the ideal starter. It'll work - just not as optimally as it potentially could have. It probably goes without saying (but I'll put it out there anyways) that the other "ideal" time for planning to pitch the starter is when it's at high krausen, during the yeast's period of peak activity.

Alright. I'll pull them out the day before I brew and put them on a stir plate (used two growlers, to evenly distribute yeast for two carboys later). Hopefully that will wake them back up and make them happy. There's definitely a lot more yeast in those growlers now than on the day I made the slurry.