First yeast starter with stir plate- done?

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Tall_Yotie

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Howdy all. I made a 4L starter with a stir plate for my 1.110 OG brew. My normal starters I let go 18-24 hours. 12 hours later (this morning) I took a look, there is a nice layer on the bottom and a LOT of krausen (or however it is spelled, foam stuff). Never had that before with my "sit on the shelf and forget about it" starters.

Should I let it keep going, or should I stop it and throw it into the fridge now? Not certain if I should read the foam as a sign that it is done. Bubbles are still rising up from the yeast, but not more foam. I am going to be using this starter in a couple days.

I would post a pic, but I am not allowed yet, alas.

Thanks for any input!

4L starter, 100g DME / L, 1 vial WLP530 liquid yeast, 1tsp yeast nutrient
 
Heck if it is at high krausen, I would not chill it, nor decant it, I would swirl it all at brewing time and pitch it all. It is great to be able to pitch a starter at high krausen if you can. That usually means it's cooking already, I wouldn't do anything to lag it, especially making it go dormant to cold crash it.
 
Agreed with the master. I've been able to "time" my last two brews with my stir plate so that I was finished brewing at High Karausen. I've been seeing "active" (read, my airlock is bubbling) within 3 hours or so.
 
Agreed with the master. I've been able to "time" my last two brews with my stir plate so that I was finished brewing at High Karausen. I've been seeing "active" (read, my airlock is bubbling) within 3 hours or so.

I lucked out and got to do it for my barleywine even. It was awsome. It was already churning within 2-3 hours of yeast pitch.

Imho, cold crashing and even decanting starters are fine for starters that have run their course, but if you are lucky enough to catch one at high krausen, don't waste the opportunity to capitalize on it.
 
If I was at a point to pitch it I would. However, my brew day is still a couple days away. The yeast starter is at the 12hr mark this morning, I might get to brewing this evening, which means (as I don't have a wort chiller hook-up) I will be pitching the yeast the day after that at the correct temp.

So, should I let it go for a few more hours and it won't hurt, or as it is at high krausen I should toss it in the fridge? I know ideally I would pitch it now (thanks Revvy!) but as that is not an option, I need to figure out if it should get put in the fridge now or let it keep going for another 4 hours.

Or is there something I am not getting that you are trying to tell me?

Thanks!
 
Here's a question: I've been eyeing up a 1.090 OG holiday ale I want to try, so I figured I would probably have to make a big (like, 1 gallon) starter for it. For a starter with that much liquid, I would want to decant, right? Pitching that much starter liquid would change your OG, wouldn't it?
 
A bit odd answering a question in my thread, but here I go :p

It would indeed decrease your OG, as you are watering it down a bit. Assuming a 5g 1.090 beer with a 1g 1.040 starter, your OG after pitching would be 1.082.

That being said, if you don't decant, you could always have a lower initial wort volume so when you pitch the starter you are just a bit above your expected final volume. I would say to decant if you are going to have the time to let it all settle, but that is just my opinion.
 
A 4 liter starter with only 100g DME?
That's a very low gravity starter (or a typo). I'd try to add the missing extra 300g DME boiled in as little water as possible to give those poor little yeasties something to munch on.
I wouldn't mind adding a 4 liter starter to a 15 - 20 gallon brew, but if it's 5 or 10 gallons, I would chill and decant the starter, and just add the slurry.

-a.
 
I am in a similar situation. I wonder if you've decided what to do - since I didn't see an answer in the thread. I have intentionally decided ahead of time to decant my 2L starter, then pitch the slurry. I read on mrmalty that when doing this you should wait till the fermentation is completed before crashing. Well, I'm not sure how I will determine that since I don't want to remove and contaminate any spent wort to measure SG, and my flask is not deep enough to put the whole hydrometer in. I'm wondering if there's a better way.
 
My starter fermentation was crazy, so after 24hr I tossed it in the fridge. 12 hours later I still had little bubbles coming up from the yeast on the bottom! After a day and a half in the fridge it settled down, I decanted, and pitched after warming up a little bit. It is happily bubbling away.

So, the decision was to give it the 18-24hr time, and then tossed it in the fridge. After the day and a half I decanted from my 4L to 0.5L. Even if it wants to grow more, it seemed healthy and numerous enough to get by in the wort and do that and make alcohol.
 
I guess I'll play it by ear. Looks like that worked well for you. I will be brewing Saturday, so I'll probably give it till late tonight (48 hours fermenting) then begin cold crashing. Last time I tried decanting was for lager yeast - for a second step. It took a long time to flocculate and I still felt like I was decanting off some good yeast. When I pitched, I went ahead and pitched the whole 1L starter. Hopefully my Wyeast 1762 will floc out faster.

Good luck.
 

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