did my starter work?

Only my second attempt at a starter so I thought I would see if anybody had input.

Wyeast W Yorkshire 1469 smack pack dated 5/12

it was partially inflated and sitting in my fridge for a few months before I used it. Unfortunately I didn't give it the recommended 3 hours in between smacking and pouring into the starter jar. I gave it about 10 minutes...

I made the started about 12 hours ago, and went straight to bed. I didn't see any activity and no evidence of a krausen.

think it worked? Igave it a bit of a stir about an hour before this was taken



the thin line about an inch off the bottom is the bottle, not the yeast.

Think I should feed it some more wort?

I plan on using this starter tomorrow afternoon

Ghost_Fish said:

Think I should feed it some more wort?

I plan on using this starter tomorrow afternoon

Click to expand...

It's impossible to tell from the picture how much yeast you have. You could check the SG of the spent wort. If it's below 1.022 or so, it worked.

hmmm all I've got is a floating hydrometer, can't really check the SG

Ghost_Fish said:

hmmm all I've got is a floating hydrometer, can't really check the SG

Click to expand...

Sure you can, decant the wort into a test jar

So I guess it didn't work

Holy smokes, what is that OG on that starter? It should be about 1.035 to 1.040. It looks like it's extremely high- and you'll stun/stress your yeast something awful! That's probably why the starter didn't "work". You want to grow yeast in a low stress environment before using it in a wort. You're far above ANY beer SG, and into wine territory. You'll stress, overwhelm, and kill your yeast with alcohol poisoning if it does take off.

I'd add water to the starter to get it to 1.040 and then give it a nice shake, cover it with foil and cross my fingers.

Unless that is a ridiculously tall test jar it almost looks like the hydrometer is bottomed out as the desk surface appears to be just a few inches below.

I know my test jar needs to be filled almost to the top to not bottom out.

OP-are you sure the hydrometer is actually floating??

Yeah I'm a bit mystified as well. It is definitely floating. I ended up dumping it and making another that seems to have worked judging by the post krausen leavings.

I'm not sure how the SG got so far off, maybe I added a cup of DME instead of a half?

Anyway thanks for the help, I do appreciate it.