Does this yeast starter look OK to you?

It's not smooth and uniform in color as per usual for me... all kinds of yeast little bits flying around... I'm assuming it's OK but thought I'd post to be sure as I'm making a complicated beer tomorrow and don't want to be disappointed by any screwy yeasties...

looks like break material to me. How does it smell?

Smells normal... I forgot to mention it was uniform in color for half a day and then turned to what's shown in the pic.

is it spinning now, or is that pic with the motor off?

That's with the stir plate engaged (spinning)...

What strain? Some of the English strains look like cottage cheese, they're so frelling flocculant.

My starter of WLP002 English Ale looked exactly like that. I was pretty nervous until I went to the White Labs site and they listed flocculation as very high for that strain. That was my first time using an English strain.

fastricky said:

That's with the stir plate engaged (spinning)...

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Stop it and let if flocculate....

flyangler18 said:

What strain? Some of the English strains look like cottage cheese, they're so frelling flocculant.

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I was thinking the same thing, that it's just the "Krauzen Kurdels" being kicked around on the stirplate, rather than gettig a chance to flocculate.

I agree with Springer... Looks like it could just be some cold break material in the starter. Won't be an issue, but make sure to give it time to settle before pitching.

Did you boil the starter wort directly in the flask? If so, that's bound to happen. If you boil in a different pot and then transfer, you should be able to simply transfer the wort over to your flask, minus the break materials at the bottom.

Ah, it is WLP002! First time I've tried it... so I need to kill the stirplate?

I would....The yesties are all dizzy now...that's prolly yeast vomit we're seeing.

You can always start spinning again..but I want to see or have you see if it just flocculates down.

I think you are OK. You say it smells fine and I assume you did a full pitch from a pouch/vial. So march ahead.

And as a point of clarification, 36-40 hours on the plate has been demonstrated to yield the maximum yeast growth.

WLP002 is probably one of the most flocculant yeasts you will find anywhere. That's perfectly normal for that yeast.

Thanks gentlemens!

Everytime I start WLP 002 it does the same thing. It's nice and cloudy and then the next morning it looks like cottage cheese in there. Here is what mine looked like one morning.

It's a crazy mofo! Seems like alls good then...

LOL... I knew that was WLP002 without reading further into the thread.

The cottage cheese of yeasts.

White Labs should include a small warning leaflet with that strain! A first timer with a weak heart might not survive the shock of finding swirling chunks in their starter!

jchadscud said:

White Labs should include a small warning leaflet with that strain! A first timer with a weak heart might not survive the shock of finding swirling chunks in their starter!

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One thing that has helped me a lot is reading the description, submitted notes, and faq for a yeast on white labs' site. The user submitted notes are great, because it is a nice collection of direct experience people have had with the yeast. From the FAQ:

Is WLP002 English Ale supposed to be grainy? I got the yeast out of the cooler and shook it up as I normally do, and it appeared to be coagulated. I've never used this strain of yeast before -- is this normal?

Yes, the yeast often looks coagulated - that is the high flocculation characteristic of this yeast. You will see a similar look with our other English Style strains as well. You have to give it lots of aeration at the beginning. Shake the carboy every 15-30 minutes for the first few hours after pitching. Because the yeast is so flocculent, it gets easily caught in the trub and hops.

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White Labs-WLP002

You can navigate through their site, but a google search for wlp002 or whatever the strain is will turn up the first result.