Making first starter, need to step up...

...due to boilovers when preparing wort. Would the best way to add be:

a)slow down plate, let yeast settle, fridge overnight, decant, add more cooled wort, spin, pitch;

b)add more wort without decanting/chilling;

OR

c) something else

Other details: started spinning about 18 hours ago, smacked pack of Belgian Ardennes previous day (swelled up quickly, within 8 hours, it was at max swelling).

Any feedback/criticisms appreciated-thanks in advance!

Picture of starter from this morning:

Please, any help?! I don't want to screw this up before I get 'started.'

Well, looks like you don't have a whole lot of room in the flask. So, depending on how much wort you want to add, you may need to chill and decant. Other than that, adding some more wort without decanting is fine.

I think that A or B would both work. If given enough time, I would go with A. At 18 hrs the yeast may have already completed its growth phase(usually complete within 24-36 hrs), which is when I like to chill the starter, and then decant. Your second starter addition would probably not need to be very big, so you could pitch that directly into your batch's wort and have a very short lag time. But if you choose B you'll be perfectly fine.

Thanks. I also have a 1L flask and Fermcap, so I figured I can add to get a little over the 2 L mark. Would fridge/decanting help with my cell count, as opposed to just adding more wort without?

novaau said:

Would fridge/decanting help with my cell count, as opposed to just adding more wort without?

Click to expand...

Not really, no.

Time isn't much of an issue- I'd rather ensure more yeast (short of buying a bigger flask, at least for this batch), than severely underpitching. Another related question would be if I decide to go the fridge/decant route, do I need to add some sanitized foil on top, or will I be OK with just the foam stopper?

I think foam stopper is probably fine. I've done starters for my last couple brews. I've done the fridge, decant, add fresh boiled cooled wort. I started with a 5 month old smack pack and did that 3 times - had a nice pitch. Looked healthy.

I do think I've read that there are diminished results since you are limited by the volume of the starter.

One thing, after chilling the starter to get the yeasties to floc, do let it warm up to room temp before adding the new wort. I've read its best not to shock the yeast with large temp fluctuations.

Don't forget to RDWHAHB. They're just yeast. Even by making a single step starter, you've done a good thing. Don't let perfect be the enemy of good. cheers!

A foam stopper will work just as well. I have one, but quit using it because I got too lazy to clean and sanitize it. With the foil I just wipe it down on one side with a rubbing alcohol wipe. And when I'm done with it I just throw it away.

Thank you all! My tentative plan will be to throw in fridge tonight, take out tomorrow night, add new wort when starter reaches room temp, and spin until pitch time (the next day). When I wait for the starter to reach room temperature/pitch new wort, is it better to keep it spinning?

You're going to decant the spent wort when you take it out of the fridge, aren't you? You don't need to stir the warming starter until you add the fresh wort.

I added enough wort to get the starter to a tad over 2L, and it has been spinning since midnight. I'm getting off work early to brew this tonight- thanks for all the help!

I pitched last night- OG 1.082 (target was 1.081)! This morning, it was bubbling more than once per second.



Now comes the hardest part- waiting...until Memorial Day.

(in the back left of pic)

"Waiting until Memorial Day" ended up being "waiting until Labor Day," but I finally got the thing bottled. I learned that I need a new autosiphon, or at least, new hoses, as transferring to the bottling bucket did not go smoothly (I even stuck my arm in the beer at one point, as my hose going into the bucket had a ton of "memory," causing it to float in the bucket), but I never worried, stayed focused on getting the beer in the bottles, and next Monday will be two weeks from bottling day, when I'll open my first. I tried a little while bottling, and it tasted quite good, although I probably should have added more hops (the AA on the the ahtanums I used was only 4.7).

Thank you to all who helped, which includes many more than those who posted here, as I spent hours in the archives before even posting- had I not spent the time searching the archives, I probably would have become discouraged, and made more mistakes.