First starter worked a little too well, fermenting like crazy and pumping krausen!

My Surly Furious clone after 24 hours after pitching my first starter. Its bubbling 1-2 times per second! Never seen a more active fermentation. After pouring the starter in, it put me at 5.5 gallons in a 6.5 gallon carboy, which was a little more than I wanted. I didn't by any means over fill. I did lose about 1/4 gallon of wort and yeast though. There should be plenty of yeast left over to finish the job, right? Never lost so much, will it turn out as expected? Either way, my yeast starter definitely worked well! It was my first and will definitely not be the last. Enjoy the pic!

Here she is:

Rock on! Not sure how you lost yeast but yes everything will be fine!

Just remember you can always step up your starter and make more yeast to pitch

I just did my first starter 1000ml...that worked plenty for me. Had toss a blow off on it 22 hrs after I pitched. It worked well.

You can also cold crash the starter for a day or two and decant most of the liquid off of it and pitch just the yeast slurry at the bottom. Just warm it up for a couple hours before pitching. I don't think it would have saved you in this case, but it's at least 1L or 2L that you won't get in your primary. I also always add a cup or two of the cooled wort to the starter vessel to help swirl up every last yeasty to pitch in.

That also doesnt look like any 6.5 gallon carboys that I've seen. Looks more like a 6. the 6.5s I've seen are shaped differently and the necks are different too (I can't see your neck obviously). That might explain why 5.5 gallons caused that much blowoff. Here's a pick with markings of my 6.5 gallon carboy. The 6.5 gallon mark is actually right at the shoulder

Hey Zeekage, like the numbers on the carboy, stickers or paint? If stickers what kind & have you had any problems getting them wet?

They are these: http://brewhardware.com/vinyl-decals/71-carboy-calibration-numbers

I have gotten them wet before with no problems. I wouldn't soak them for days on end but they are stuck on there pretty good.

Nifty

zeekage said:

You can also cold crash the starter for a day or two and decant most of the liquid off of it and pitch just the yeast slurry at the bottom. Just warm it up for a couple hours before pitching. I don't think it would have saved you in this case, but it's at least 1L or 2L that you won't get in your primary. I also always add a cup or two of the cooled wort to the starter vessel to help swirl up every last yeasty to pitch in.

That also doesnt look like any 6.5 gallon carboys that I've seen. Looks more like a 6. the 6.5s I've seen are shaped differently and the necks are different too (I can't see your neck obviously). That might explain why 5.5 gallons caused that much blowoff. Here's a pick with markings of my 6.5 gallon carboy. The 6.5 gallon mark is actually right at the shoulder

Click to expand...

I stand corrected. It is infact a 6 gallon carboy. You are probably right about the extra .5 gallon of space not making a difference. I also wanted to do a 5.5 gallon batch since I am using a 6 gallon bucket for a secondary so I can dry hop with the 8.5 ounces of hops in mesh bags. I'm thinking about getting marbles to displace the extra head space in the bucket, for future batches. Next time I make a starter, I will definitely give myself enough time to cold crash. I was pressed for time with this last one.

Cheers!