Starter Problem! (At least I think...)

[Jrome]

Hello all,

So I made my first starter yesterday. Used about 3/4 of a cup DME in ~1000ml of water. Pitched a White Labs Belgian Ale vial yesterday around 2:00.

It's been sitting in my basement around 70 degrees. Still no sign of activity. I usually wouldn't be worried, but I figured starters should start pretty quickly. Am I delusional?

Also: The yeast I used expires in Oct. Could that be a problem?
Also: There are tiny bubble making their way to the surface, good or bad?

Thanks all!
Jeremy

 

[Grinder12000]

No worries - mine rarely show any signs of activity. Not sure why but I believe it's doing what it needs to do. Remember the yeasts grow and multiply a LOT before they start to fart out alcohol. So while it looks like nothing is happening 0 it is.

They know what the are doing - no worries!

 

[Revvy]

What's your definition of "starter activity?"

Just like in the fermenter, starter fermentation isn't always dynamic...It doesn't matter one blip in your fermenter or your starter flask if the airlock bubbles or not (if you are using an airlock and not tinfoil,) or if you see a krauzen. In fact starter fermentation are some of the fastest or slowest but most importantly, the most boring fermentations out there. Usually it's done withing a few hours of yeast pitch...usually overnight when we are sleeping, and the starter looks like nothing ever happened...except for the little band at the bottom. Or it can take awhile...but either way there's often no "activity" whatsoever....

I usually run my stirplate for the first 24 hours, then shut it down, if you are spinning your starter it is really hard to get a krausen to form anyway, since it's all spinning, and there's often a head of foam on it from the movement.


All that really matters is that creamy band o yeast at the bottom.

This is a chilled sample so it's flocculated, but even with an unchilled sample you should see a band of yeast at the bottom. Here's an unchilled version

Same thing, a band.

As it is I've only ever seen two or three krausens actually on my starter (one blew off a bunch of krausen and knocked the tinfoil off the flask,) and the evidence of one on the flask at the "waterline" once. But I've never not had a starter take off.

Look for the yeast at the bottom, don't worry what it looks like on top. It's only been a day anyway. But the bubbles being produced are more than likely co2 and if you have co2 present you have fermentation.

 

[Jrome]

Thanks for the quick replies guys, I really appreciate it.

I do have that yeast band on the bottom, guess I just missed the fermentation!

One more question though, does that band ONLY show up if fermentation has occurred?
Can't the yeast sink down there even if they haven't fermented anything?

 

[Valcarde]

Blah, edited, as I misunderstood the question. >_>

 

[pwndabear]

With a starter, would you pitch the whole thing or would you just pitch the bottom of the starter?

 

[Revvy]

It's really up to you, some decant, or some just swirl it all in. One factor to consider is whether or not the "starter beer," the liguid on top smells sour or not. Often, especially in the summer it may sour in only a few hours. Some folks add a hop pellet as a preservative/preventative measure. The couple of ounces of sour beer wont really affect the taste of your finished product (unless maybe you were brewing an extremely light tasting beer.) It's really up to you.

Another factor is whether or not the yeast is a low flocculating yeast and there may be a lot still in suspension. The "beer" will be cloudy rather than clear-ish. If it's a witbier or hefe yeast for example it might be better just to swirl and pour it all in, you'll get the max number of yeast cells that way.

My starter flask is huge and often I will build up a starter over a few days and end up with 1 1/2 to 2 quarts of "beer" in it. If the yeast has pretty much flocculated I will, if I have time cold crash it like the web pic above, but even if I don't I will carefully pour off all but about 2 cups of the liquid, then swirl the remainder to re-suspend the yeast and dump it in my fermenter.

 

[pwndabear]

Thanks Rev. Good info, i need to start using starters in my brews, though to this point i have not had any issues with not using them other than a little bit of a lag time.