My First Yeast Starter Question

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NJtarheel

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Exactly 24 hours ago I started a yeast starter according to the directions of my Home Brew Store. 1 quart of water, bring to a boil, 4 oz of DME, boil for 15 minutes, cool to 75 degrees, pitch the Wyeast activator, shake for 60 seconds, airlock and watch the cells have fun... this morning, (about 9 hours later) the airlock was bubbling away. Tonight, it's barely bubbling. Does this sound right? I am concerned because I am brewing a Tripel (1.082 OG)this weekend and know you need a lot of yeast. Please offer some advice or reassurance. I spent a lot of $ on this partial mash kit and want to make sure I get it right. This is the first time I'm doing a starter. Thanks for your advice....
 
What kind of container do you have it in? I wouldnt use an airlock. Just cover it with sanitized tin foil. Yeast need oxygen to have their fun. And shake it every time you walk by it in the future.
 
if you're not using a stir plate, an airlock is fine. You won't get much oxygen exchange unless you have the wort constantly swirling.

The bubbling activity sounds about right, it doesn't take long for a package of yeast meant for 5 gallons to ferment out a quart of wort.
For a Saturday brew, I usually start mine on thursday night, it ferments out by friday evening and I put it in the fridge on Saturday morning - decant and pitch on Saturday afternoon.
 
I would be worried about underpitching. Mr. Malty says 5.25 gallons of 1.082 will need 294 billion cells. With belgians I always pitch a little higher. The activator has approx 100 billion cells, and if pitched into a 2 liter starter will grow to about 200 billion in 12-18 hours. With a 1 liter starter you are not going to get near 200 billion, which is still about 100 billion cells low.

If you had a stir plate I think you could have got by with a 1 liter starter but not with a single shake at the beginning. But I am a little paranoid about underpitching. My buddy thinks I always pitch too much. I just figure if I'm going to spend the time to brew I don't want to end up underpitching so I always shoot high.

If I was doing it without a stir plate, I would do two packets in a 2.5 liter starter. With a stir plate I'd do 1 packet in a 2.5 liter starter.
 
I would take the airlock off and just put sanitized foil over the opening and then swirl up the ingredients about once every 6-8 hours. This is the one time you really want oxygen in your fermented wort.

-Stanley
 
Well to piggy back on this one since, i started my first last night but only made .5L of starter. Dont see much or any activitiy this morning. I took the airlock off my container as suggested above. At this time i plan on pitching it anyways....if the cells arent good im assuming it shouldnt have an affect on the wort right?
 
Well to piggy back on this one since, i started my first last night but only made .5L of starter. Dont see much or any activitiy this morning. I took the airlock off my container as suggested above. At this time i plan on pitching it anyways....if the cells arent good im assuming it shouldnt have an affect on the wort right?

Making a .5L starter is for waking up your yeast on brew day not for replicating yeast. Yes, you will make beer.
 
Thanks all! Perhaps I will also buy a dry yeast and toss it in the wort on brew day (tomorrow)...

That's pretty casual for someone who has spent alot of $ on this partial mash and wants to get it right.

Try stepping up your starter with another 2L starter to give you the amount of yeast required. Don't use an airlock, you want the exchange of oxygen.
 
Exactly 24 hours ago I started a yeast starter according to the directions of my Home Brew Store. 1 quart of water, bring to a boil, 4 oz of DME, boil for 15 minutes, cool to 75 degrees, pitch the Wyeast activator, shake for 60 seconds, airlock and watch the cells have fun... this morning, (about 9 hours later) the airlock was bubbling away. Tonight, it's barely bubbling. Does this sound right? I am concerned because I am brewing a Tripel (1.082 OG)this weekend and know you need a lot of yeast. Please offer some advice or reassurance. I spent a lot of $ on this partial mash kit and want to make sure I get it right. This is the first time I'm doing a starter. Thanks for your advice....

You received bad instructions from your home brew store.

1st off that starter is too small. Make a min 2.5L starter
2nd, that mixture of 120ML of DME to 1L of water will give you a starter that is too high gravity. Use 1 gram by weight of DME for every 10ML of final volume
3rd, you need to shake it not just once but intermittently throughout the process.
4th, don't use an airlock
5th, find another Local Home Brew Store
 
5th, find another Local Home Brew Store

Probably overkill, just do what I do and ignore what the LHBS people tell you. Most of my LHBS are wine-centric - I'm a little over an hour south of the Napa/Sonoma area, and the Santa Cruz mountains are actually a pretty large wine region as well - so the people that run them know lots about making wine but diddly about beer. They pretend to know, and I'm sure they know a heck of a lot more than your average newbie that comes into the store - but yeah, they're a good local source for emergency brew supplies - and I've got HBT for emergency brew information.
 
Activity in a starter really only means one thing and one thing only.

It doesn't matter one blip in your fermenter or your starter flask if the airlock bubbles or not (if you are using an airlock and not tinfoil if you are using tinfoil, you aren't getting bibbling anyway,) or if you see a krauzen. In fact starter fermentation are some of the fastest or slowest but most importantly, the most boring fermentations out there. Usually it's done withing a few hours of yeast pitch...usually overnight when we are sleeping, and the starter looks like nothing ever happened...except for the little band at the bottom. Or it can take awhile...but either way there's often no "activity" whatsoever....

I usually run my stirplate for the first 24 hours, then shut it down, if you are spinning your starter it is really hard to get a krausen to form anyway, since it's all spinning, and there's often a head of foam on it from the movement.


All that really matters is that creamy band o yeast at the bottom.



rsz_yeast_starter_chilled_001.jpg


This is a chilled sample so it's flocculated, but even with an unchilled sample you should see a band of yeast at the bottom. Here's an unchilled version

starter.jpg


Same thing, a band.

As it is I've only ever seen two or three krausens actually on my starter (one blew off a bunch of krausen and knocked the tinfoil off the flask,) and the evidence of one on the flask at the "waterline" once. But I've never not had a starter take off.

Look for the yeast at the bottom, don't worry what it looks like on top.

If you have yeast on the bottom....that's all you really need.

If it looks anything like that, your are ready to either feed it again, or use it.

People always think the yeast at the bottom of the flask is the same, but they are wrong. I am 100% sure your starter took off fine.

Hope this gives you ideas.

:mug:
 
Activity in a starter really only means one thing and one thing only.

It doesn't matter one blip in your fermenter or your starter flask if the airlock bubbles or not (if you are using an airlock and not tinfoil if you are using tinfoil, you aren't getting bibbling anyway,) or if you see a krauzen. In fact starter fermentation are some of the fastest or slowest but most importantly, the most boring fermentations out there. Usually it's done withing a few hours of yeast pitch...usually overnight when we are sleeping, and the starter looks like nothing ever happened...except for the little band at the bottom. Or it can take awhile...but either way there's often no "activity" whatsoever....

I usually run my stirplate for the first 24 hours, then shut it down, if you are spinning your starter it is really hard to get a krausen to form anyway, since it's all spinning, and there's often a head of foam on it from the movement.


All that really matters is that creamy band o yeast at the bottom.



rsz_yeast_starter_chilled_001.jpg


This is a chilled sample so it's flocculated, but even with an unchilled sample you should see a band of yeast at the bottom. Here's an unchilled version

starter.jpg


Same thing, a band.

As it is I've only ever seen two or three krausens actually on my starter (one blew off a bunch of krausen and knocked the tinfoil off the flask,) and the evidence of one on the flask at the "waterline" once. But I've never not had a starter take off.

Look for the yeast at the bottom, don't worry what it looks like on top.

If you have yeast on the bottom....that's all you really need.

If it looks anything like that, your are ready to either feed it again, or use it.

People always think the yeast at the bottom of the flask is the same, but they are wrong. I am 100% sure your starter took off fine.

Hope this gives you ideas.

:mug:

I agree with Revvy and I would like to add, I just made a Wyeast 1056 starter on a stir plate and got some Krauzen after about 9 hours. This is different than the foam made from the stir plate. I let it go about another 9 hours then took it off the stir plate to chill.

I agree the OP's starter probably finished but do you think the replication of yeast was suppressed due to 1) shaking only once 2) having the airlock not allowing the exchange of oxygen and 3)only a .5L starter size.
 

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