Risk of infected starter?

[ChzyMnky]

Alright, hive mind... Let's hear your opinions.

This coming weekend I'm making a Old Ale (OG 1.100). Monday night I made a 3L starter with Omega Labs British Ale II (OYL-007) in a 5L flask. I put in on a stir plate in my basement, and capped it with a foam stopper. Tuesday night at 5pm it had a nice ~2" krausen on the top of it and seemed to be doing fine.

This morning (Wednesday) at 6:30am, I go down to check on it. At some point during the night, it had overflowed, and pushed the stopper out, leaving it open to the air. There was a nice gunky crust running down the side of my flask. The krausen had subsided leaving bare wort swirling. I re-sanitized the stopper and put it back in.

Obviously there is some chance that nasty buggies got into my starter, and it could be infected. At this point there are no weird looking floaties or disgusting smells coming from the flask. So, here's my plan: Let the starter sit on the stir plate until Thursday night/Friday morning and keep an eye on it. If it still looks/smells OK, I'll cold crash it and then use it. If not, I'll just bite the bullet and go buy a bunch more yeast that I pitch without making a starter.

What do you guys think? Still too much risk?

 

[RPh_Guy]

Still too much risk?

I don't know, it's probably OK. Funky microbes would be within style anyway.

I use Foam Control (AKA FermCap-S) to prevent the starter from foaming over.

 

[kh54s10]

It is probably ok. But maybe not... I would cold crash it and look, smell, taste. If it doesn't seem terrible I would use it.

BTW, on a stirplate, your starter was done in 18-24 hours. It has now, mostly stopped growing new cells and is just fermenting the starter wort. It is also using up energy to do so.

I would put it in the fridge now. Let it settle, then look for any signs of infection.

 

[IslandLizard]

I would pour some of that starter into a large mason jar or another flask, add some 1.040 wort, put in a warm place, and keep an eye and nose out for any off flavors or other signs of infection during the next 2-3 days, while cold crashing the main batch.

I would also make a 2-3 liter vitality starter with the (decanted) crashed slurry on brew day, and pitch the lot. You may have lost 30-50% of the best yeast in the eruption. You need at least 400-500(+) billion cells plus a good dose of oxygen/aeration.

+1 to a drop of Fermcap-S in all starter wort.

 

[ChzyMnky]

Hey guys, thanks for your input. I usually use fermcap in my starter when I boil the DME, but this time I used purchased canned starter... I'll know for next time... The starter still looked/smelled OK last night. I stuck it in the keggerator to cold crash, and I'll check it again on tomorrow. If it still seems OK, I'll do the vitality starter on brew day. If not, I'll just bite the bullet and go buy three packs of yeast from my LHBS right before I brew.

Thanks again!