Is this volcano of a starter normal for WLP001?

I am curious if this is normal for the White Labs California Ale Yeast. It has been pushing the air filter out of the beaker, and foaming out for 18 hours now. I have cleaned the mess up several times already. I used 200 grams of Briess Pilsen Light DME, 2 liters of tap water, and it is 70 degrees in the house.

JLP said:

I am curious if this is normal for the White Labs California Ale Yeast. It has been pushing the air filter out of the beaker, and foaming out for 18 hours now. I have cleaned the mess up several times already. I used 200 grams of Briess Pilsen Light DME, 2 liters of tap water, and it is 70 degrees in the house.

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Yes it can happen and it's normal but really you just want a loose cover of sanitized foil over the top, starters require O2 to feed the yeast growth

I think it's not really too bad but you've got a lot more wort in there than you should have for that size flask. 50% to 66% of total volume would be a better place to be. I did my starter at 1500mL in a 2000mL flask but the lager yeast wasn't nearly as aggressive.

Going with such a high percentage of full and with a typical ale yeast, will almost certainly end up in a blowoff/overflow from what I've learned.

Yes, WLP001 is why I went to 5000ml flasks. Got tired of it....:rockin:

One of the points of using a stir plate is to drive constant Oxygen in there: propagation is much more effective through respiration than fermentation. So the sanitized foil over the top is the best idea...

In addition, I find myself getting less krausen going the aerobic path (not really a true krausen in this case, more like Foam). Of course, that advantage might be nulled by the stirring involved here... ;-)

Still, a 5 liters erlenmeyer makes more sense. Some beers need even more than that....

Thanks guys. I have the two-way air filter on top to not allow flies and what not to fall in there. Do you think that it is just as good as the aluminum foil? The only difference that I could think of is if the opening in the filter was to small, and possibly limiting the air flow.

One drop of fermcap will solve that problem.

JLP said:

Thanks guys. I have the two-way air filter on top to not allow flies and what not to fall in there. Do you think that it is just as good as the aluminum foil? The only difference that I could think of is if the opening in the filter was to small, and possibly limiting the air flow.

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I'd guess the filter was just fine, but the problem was, in so many words, trying to put 10 gallons of $hit in a 5 gallon bucket. Like trying to ferment a 5 gallon batch of beer in a 5 gallon bucket, then wondering why there was a blow off.

whoaru99, I guess that I deserve that. I have made a few starters before, and I did the same thing. None of which ended up like this.

JLP said:

I am curious if this is normal for the White Labs California Ale Yeast. It has been pushing the air filter out of the beaker, and foaming out for 18 hours now. I have cleaned the mess up several times already. I used 200 grams of Briess Pilsen Light DME, 2 liters of tap water, and it is 70 degrees in the house.

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Happy yeast are the basis of successful brewing Your brews must be great.
Why do you do this? (not a rhetorical question, I really am curious)
If the wort is aerated sufficiently before pitching, the yeast will Kraeusen within 12 to 20 hours. A 69 cent plastic paint paddle in a drill for 5 minutes (4" of foam) does the job.
Our experience is that the "100 billion cells" will become over 3 trillion.
The 1 to 2 lbs of cream yeast in the bottom of the primary is the basis of our starter. A recycled gallon milk jug, some DME, warm dechlorinated water, and a minute or two of violent shaking also makes an adequate wort for 2nd and 3rd generation starters.
The starters are used for making biga (for bread) and subsequent ale batches.
Have not had consistent luck with 4th generation. The taste begins to become unpleasant.

Monday night, I pitched a jar of washed WLP001 into my 1L starter (2L flask) and with intermittant shaking it had a massive volcano going within a few hours.
I love it.

Willum said:

One drop of fermcap will solve that problem.

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So I've heard, but I ain't using that stuff. Been hashed out long ago on here why, so I'll let it be. But I've had dual 5000ml flasks going on my two stirplates when I make 10 Gallons of the Pliney clone. I now laugh in 001's general direction!! :rockin:

bvn, I use a beaker and stir plate to speed up the starters ready to use date. Since it keeps the yeast in suspension I don't mess with shaking the bottle ever so often. Just set it and forget it.

Willum, never used that stuff.

Grannyknot/Hammy71, I have never had anything spew like this stuff. I am going to retool my methods for WLP001 next time for sure!!

I'm lost. What bottle. I really don't understand what is going on here and am way over my head.
- My understanding of "starters" is what I set aside from the cream yeast at the bottom of my primary. So my "starters" are typically 2nd and 3rd generation. I've found the 4th generation to be occasionally off and best not attempted.

My most common use for what I call "starters" is in making biga for bread. Take a look at the picture at
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biga_(bread_baking)>
looks like the head of a really good pint

Is hammy71's picture from Monty Python and the Holy Grail?

bvn said:

I'm lost. What bottle. I really don't understand what is going on here and am way over my head.
- My understanding of "starters" is what I set aside from the cream yeast at the bottom of my primary. So my "starters" are typically 2nd and 3rd generation. I've found the 4th generation to be occasionally off and best not attempted.

My most common use for what I call "starters" is in making biga for bread. Take a look at the picture at
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biga_(bread_baking)>
looks like the head of a really good pint

Is hammy71's picture from Monty Python and the Holy Grail?

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In the process of making beer there are two standard types of yeast; dry and liquid. With dry yeast you boil water for 10-15 minutes, and mix it with the yeast after it cools to about 95-105 degrees. Since the dry yeast packet contains the appropriate amount of yeast cells you just have to rehydrate them, so after about 15 minutes they are ready to pitch into your wort. With the liquid yeast you should make a "starter", as the liquid yeast cells are starved of nutrition. A yeast starter is in essence a mini batch of beer that you make to allow the yeast to reproduce, and grow the size that you need (propagate). You can make it by using Dried Malt Extract, Liquid Malt Extract, or a previous batches wort, and pitch your yeast in it to make a starter wort. When making a starter, you don't have to have a stir plate and beaker. You can use basically any type of container, just as long as it is big enough to fit your starter. There are a bunch of different formulas on how much wort/starter size to use for a starter, and it is all based off of your gravity readings for your true batch of beer.

The way that I read your initial post was that you make starters already, and I thought that you were asking about my stir plate. Does this answer your question? I haven't used any washed yeast just yet, as I don' t have a specific style that I use as a staple just yet. I have read up on it a bit, and it seems like you are getting the average life cycles out of the yeast. The average amount of cycles that I have seen be effective is 5.

Jody

JLP said:

I am curious if this is normal for the White Labs California Ale Yeast. It has been pushing the air filter out of the beaker, and foaming out for 18 hours now. I have cleaned the mess up several times already. I used 200 grams of Briess Pilsen Light DME, 2 liters of tap water, and it is 70 degrees in the house.

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Willum is right about the fermcap. Actually it's called femrcap-s. This stuff is great. I the same problem with wlp400. Ended up throwing it out. Ordered some fermcap-s from Northern brewing (cheapest price at $1.99 an ounce) and when the starter started to foam up I just put in one drop and the foam went away. Had no effect on the yeast and really has no taste. Try it, you won't be sorry.

I always put a paper towel between my flask and stir plate. Makes cleanup easier.

Willum said:

One drop of fermcap will solve that problem.

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Not necessarily. Well I should preface that with, that's what I thought until I got acquainted with WLP400, it's a monster I tell ya. Fermcap met it's match.

captgus said:

Not necessarily. Well I should preface that with, that's what I thought until I got acquainted with WLP400, it's a monster I tell ya. Fermcap met it's match.

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Challenge accepted.