I made a starter last night for brew day today but the weather in VA decided not to cooperate! What should I do with the starter? Is it worth it to save it? How would I save it? Should I just chuck it? Don't exactly have a great place to stow the flask in the fridge, can I move the starter to another vessel for storage? Thanks!
What to do with a starter?
- Thread starter tooblue02
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When are you planning to brew? I make starters for every batch and my usual method is to use a stir plate, let it ferment on that for about 24 hours or until the yeast starts to clump up then put it in the fridge and let the yeast flocculate out. You can leave it in the fridge like that for several days no problem and when you are ready to pitch just bring the yeast out about 2 hours early, pour off the liquid, swirl up the yeast slurry and pitch away! Fermentation will start within 6 hours if you made the correct size starter for the batch.
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tooblue02
Well-Known Member
Probably going to brew Sunday since that looks to be the nicest day (I brew in the garage so the rain/snow doesn't matter just the temperature). Was thinking about putting the starter in another bottle or filling a bucket with some cold water and placing the flask in that for the next two days until I brew. Figured if it stayed cold until brew day it would be fine. I have a 2000ml flask that I normally do starters in and my fridge is a little small for it, if I clean and sanatize a different container can I transfer without worry (aside from the obvious posibility that I did miss something and contaminate it) or would it be better to keep it in the flask and use the bucket method to keep it cool? Thanks! Heading to the brew store now to grab the last of the hops I need!
bknifefight
Well-Known Member
You're fine to let it sit until Sunday. You might have 50,000 less viable cells of yeast but you're fine.
I would leave it in the flask and just keep it cool (<50F). You just want to keep the yeast dormant until ready to pitch. Pitching cold yeast into your wort will not hurt anything, I do it all the time and have robust fermentation withing 12 hours.
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tooblue02
Well-Known Member
I am thinking about leaving it in the garage since it is pretty cool out there (around 40-50 degrees) then warm it up inside before pitching. Other thought is to move it to another location since it is taking up some counter space in the kitchen and keep it on the stir plate, that's what the home brew store suggested.
13ONK
Active Member
if you move it out to the garage, just make sure it doesn't freeze at night. From temps you listed, it wouldn't appear to be a problem.
