first starter, am I loosing too much?

[TheWeeb]

First off, I am amazed at how rigorous the little yeasties are. Since my LHBS is two hours away, I have been working thru Midwest and FedEx home delivery. I ordered a vial of WLP820 for my first lager; and paid extra for the premium cold pack. Well, first mistake, never order on a Friday, as it was shipped same day and then sat at a FedEx facility in Minneapolis over the weekend. Then, once it got to Las Cruces, two days delayed because they "could not find my house." I am in a town of 7,000 and they have delivered TWICE before in the past month! Anyway, I got the package on Thursday, six days since shipping, temps in the 90's and 100's, and of course the thermal pack and vial were almost hot to the touch.

I was so pissed, thought that I would have to order a replacement, or spend $40 on gas and four hours to get one from LHBS.

Well, if there is one thing this forum has taught me, it is to relax.. so I made up the starter anyway. No stirplate, but since I work from home, gave the 1/2 gallon growler a shake every hour or so.

The yeast has taken off and gone crazy! I used a quart and a half of wort in a two quart growler, and as that popcorn guy used to say, "it is blowing the top right off of the popper!"

So my question is this: Am I loosing too much thru the blowoff tube? Here is a picture, the sanitization solution is nearly as dark as the wort. Should I lower the temp to minimize this?

Thanks in advance for your advice!

 

[marubozo]

What temp is it at? Higher temps will usually mean a more active fermentation so if you're sitting above 70 that's certainly going to contribute to some of the blowoff. That being said, you probably aren't losing too much, but it would obviously be better if you weren't losing anything at all. At this point most of the activity has probably already passed so lowering temps won't do much now.

Also note that using a blowoff is not ideal for a starter because getting oxygen is important for the yeast. So most people recommend against airlocks and the like on starters and go with just a piece of loose foil or something over the opening.

Solutions going forward would be to use a larger vessel for your starter or get a stir plate. A stir plate keeps things in constant motion and it usually keeps excessive bubbles from forming at the top eliminating the need for a blowoff.

To give you an idea, here's the starter I made yesterday and it's about 20 hours in right now. I can make a full 2 liters in the flask or even a bit more and not have to worry about about it overflowing.

 

[TheWeeb]

Beautiful starter! A stir plate and flask are on my list for next time. I went ahead and pitched mine today @ 65 degrees and set the fridge on 55. Fingers crossed !