Can I pitch this starter today?

[Makita]

Last night I made my first starter, using DME and a 250 ml Activator pack.

The airlock has been going at more or less 1-4 bubbles/minute since then. But 22 hours later, there isn't really any krausen in the starter...just a small bit of foam (I can still see most of the surface).

Is it too soon to pitch? If possible, I'd like to pitch today, since I was already delayed a day by an Activator pack that ruptured on me.

 

[Desert_Sky]

have you allready brewed?

 

[BierMuncher]

Last night I made my first starter, using DME and a 250 ml Activator pack.

The airlock has been going at more or less 1-4 bubbles/minute since then. But 22 hours later, there isn't really any krausen in the starter...just a small bit of foam (I can still see most of the surface).

Is it too soon to pitch? If possible, I'd like to pitch today, since I was already delayed a day by an Activator pack that ruptured on me.

If you want to get your beer going, go ahead and pitch it. It will ferment fine.

IMHO, you can wait longer to allow the yeast to grow more, but I don't think you'll make up the time that you delay getting your "real" brew going.

EDIT: Good question Chimone...DOH!!!

 

[Makita]

Nope, haven't brewed yet.

But, nothing wrong with the starter? I would have expected it to kick into high gear by now. Although, I've never made a starter, just going by what I've heard.

 

[BierMuncher]

Nope, haven't brewed yet.

Okay. So no urgency to brew other than you want beer.

I guess it depends on how bad you want beer.

If you wanted to brew right away and pitch, your beer would be fine.

 

[TheJadedDog]

Nope, haven't brewed yet.

But, nothing wrong with the starter? I would have expected it to kick into high gear by now. Although, I've never made a starter, just going by what I've heard.

Most starters do not typically kick into high gear. I typically only get a very thin layer of foam in my starters and I never get airlock activity. Some folks seem to get starters that go bananas, but I have never had this happen.

 

[BierMuncher]

...Some folks seem to get starters that go bananas, but I have never had this happen.

You mean like this?

 

[TheJadedDog]

You mean like this?

View attachment 1391

That is exactly what I mean. What did you do to those?

 

[Desert_Sky]

Before I got my stir plate, my starters rarely formed good krausen. Just a layer or so of bubbles on the top. Now I've had one or two Hefe starters that overflowed, but typically they arent too exciting.

 

[beerjournl]

When I'm building up a starter over a few days I find that sometimes the action takes place overnight, and when I look at it in the morning there is only the slightest bit of foam and virtually no action in the airlock. After 2 days I'll dump in more wort and the action gets going for a bit and goes away again. When I'm ready to add the last (3rd) wort I throw away the wort in the 2l flask and add totally new wort (4 cups water, 1 cup LDME) and I get a really nice krausen going that lasts for about 2 days. I chill this a bit the day before the brew to get the yeast to settle out, and on brew day I dump off the excess wort (about 2/3 without losing solids) and let it come to room temp before pitching. This seems to get some really nice and turbulent fermentation going.

Seems to be when the ratio of wort to yeast meets a certain point I get the best action. Temps are always about 75.

Do you folks pitch the whole starter or do you pour off the wort first??

 

[homebrewer_99]

The whole enchilada...why toss out brewing beer?