Yesterday, around 20 hours ago I made my first starter using a 2000ml flask and stirplate. I dissolved 160 grams of light DME into 1600ml of water and after a 20 minute boil and cool down checked the SG with a refractometer - 1.035. Then I added a vial of WLP007 and some Fermaid yeast nutrient.
I got to say one thing, watching the growing yeast swirling around is amazing, they don't swirl on the bottom so much as shoot up the walls, and at the top center of the fluid is a is a vortex whirlpool. It's fun to watch, as time goes by the yeast grow more and more and fly around inside the wort like lightning bugs on steroids. I think that fluid is no longer wort but more like unhopped beer because the yeast have definitely been feasting, multiplying and doing their thing. I took an SG reading at the 20 hour mark with my refractometer and it was off the scale, meaning well below 1.000. I thought wow is there any food left for these guys to eat? Then realized using a refractomter in an alcohol environment will not be accurate but I don't want to pull a hydrometer sample because that is just too much waste.
I'm not brewing until the day after Thanksgiving and plan to put this starter in the frige once it's done. So my question is. How do you determine a starter is finished?
I got to say one thing, watching the growing yeast swirling around is amazing, they don't swirl on the bottom so much as shoot up the walls, and at the top center of the fluid is a is a vortex whirlpool. It's fun to watch, as time goes by the yeast grow more and more and fly around inside the wort like lightning bugs on steroids. I think that fluid is no longer wort but more like unhopped beer because the yeast have definitely been feasting, multiplying and doing their thing. I took an SG reading at the 20 hour mark with my refractometer and it was off the scale, meaning well below 1.000. I thought wow is there any food left for these guys to eat? Then realized using a refractomter in an alcohol environment will not be accurate but I don't want to pull a hydrometer sample because that is just too much waste.
I'm not brewing until the day after Thanksgiving and plan to put this starter in the frige once it's done. So my question is. How do you determine a starter is finished?