How long will a starter last?

I made a starter from a wyeast smack pack last Saturday planning to brew on Sunday but a whole load of stuff got in the way and now I probably wont be able to brew till this Saturday. I'm just wondering what effect if any will the weeks wait have on the starter? Will it still be good? Better/Worse for the wait??

If you put the starter in the refrigerator, then you should be OK for a week. You may want to toss in some new wort a couple of days before pitching to wake them up again, though.

-Steve

+1 put the starter in the fridge. Once it has been in the fridge for a couple days the yeast will mostly settle to the bottom so on brew day you can carefully pour off most of the liquid on top. Just take it out of the fridge a couple hours before you need it, pour off most but not all of the liquid, cover the top back up and let it slowly come up to room temperature for a couple hours. When you are ready to pitch it give it a good swirl to suspend the yeast in the remaining liquid a pitch it.

If you have a good quantity of yeast in the starter already you should not have to add any more wort to the starter.