Crausen pushed out the foam stopper in the starter flask

After about 20 hours, I checked up on my starter sitting on my stir plate and the crausen has pushed out the foam stopper. I rinsed off all the gunk from the foam stopper, resanitized it and replaced it. I don't have a blow off tube that will fit my flask, so what can I do?

I am not really worried about contamination at this point, since the crausen was so high.

This has happened to me twice. I did as you did, rinsed and sanitized the stopper and pitched at the appropriate time. I had no issues with contamination. What yeast strain was it? The last one I had a volcano with was Wyeast 1945 Neo Brittania.

It was Wyeast 3787. I also made quite a large starter, since I only had one packet and OG is suppose to get 1.073. How long should I keep my yeast on the strir plate though? I was planning on around 48 hours on plate, and 48 hours in the fridge. Then decant, dilute with some cooled, boiled water and pitch.

Don't worry about a stopper in your starter flask. Just cover it with a nice piece of sanitized foil. I'm getting better reproduction rates since I stopped using the stopper/airlock on starters.

-chuck

I will try that for my next starter, thanks! How do I know when it's done though?

On the stir plate most of mine are done within 24-36 hours. After that I'll switch it off to see if the yeast starts settling out or if it stays milky looking.

-chuck

When I get home tonight, it will be close to 43 hours or so. I can probably just stick in the fridge already.

I've found that I only need about 18-24 hours and the overnight in the fridge for starters.

Don't use a stopper, just sanitize a piece of aluminum foil and cover the top of the flask.

I actually also have a 3787 starter going right now for brewing this weekend.

I am looking forward to brewing my Tripel. As soon as my primary fermentation is complete, i'll brew something else because the Triple will not be ready till mid May or so.

You should NOT use an airlock on a starter, especially on a stir plate. The whole point of a stir plate is to keep the yeast in suspension and continuously aerate it with new oxygen, which cannot get in there easily if you have an airlock on your container.

Also I almost never have a krausen on my starters because I use fermcap in them...otherwise they tend to boil over in the flask which shoots boiling wort straight up and is probably the scariest thing I've ever seen in my kitchen.

Well, i am not using an airlock, but a foam stopper, which should let the air in.

(not my photo)

Ah foam stopper sorry misunderstood.

My foam stopper got kind of gunky after several uses and nowadays I just use aluminum foil.

Mine is gunky already, as you can guess from my first post. I'll probably use aluminum foil next time. It will be much easier to sanitize anyway.