Yeast Starter - This Is Very Strange!

[J2W2]

I created a yeast starter last night using a vial of White Labs English Ale Yeast (WLP002). This was my fourth or fifth starter I've done, but the first with White Labs - the others have been Wyeast smack packs.

The tube arrived with a hard yeast cake on one side and fluid on the other (it had obviously been on its side for some time). It took a lot of shaking, but I finally got a good slurry. I'm guessing Wyeast may do something similar, you just don't see it in the pack.

Anyway, I put the starter together last night and put it on my stir plate. It had a good krausen going this morning, and a lot of chunks flying around in the whirlpool. After work today, there was a little foam on top, and a lot of chunks flying around. Since it had been roughly 24 hours, I decided to shut the stir plate off to see if it still seemed to be fermenting.

I've attached a picture of what it looks like now. It still seems to have pretty active fermentation going, so I'm thinking I should turn the stir plate back on and check it in the morning.

The picture is not very good (not much for the camera to focus on), but the strange thing I'm seeing is what (almost) looks like worms in the wort. I'm pretty sure it's yeast wrapping around a CO2 bubble and riding it until it bursts, but it literally has five or more of these things going off all the time. Maybe this is normal yeast behavior, but I've never seen anything like it! You can see one approaching the 800ml mark, about to burst, a couple more approaching the 400ml mark, and a couple on the bottom, just starting to come up.

I wanted to see if anyone else has seen this happen, and to see if I should restart the stir plate at this point or just let it go?

Thanks for your help!

 

[doublehaul]

It probably is actually worms. Haha just kidding. I see that kind of thing when I rack to my keg sometimes. I'm doing that tonight. Looks like a good cloudy starter anyways!

 

[agrazela]

Can't really tell you what that is on a family forum, let me see if I can put it into lyrics...

Every yeast is sacred
Every yeast is great
If a yeast is wasted
God gets quite irate.

 

[J2W2]

Can't really tell you what that is on a family forum, let me see if I can put it into lyrics...

Every yeast is sacred
Every yeast is great
If a yeast is wasted
God gets quite irate.

Hey, hey, hey, I'm planning to drink this you know!

 

[J2W2]

But seriously, it's obviously still fermenting. Should I turn the stir plate back on the for night, or just let it go without now?

Thanks!

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, WLP002 is a super flocking strain, don't be surprised if it looks like cottage cheese at any point.

I'd run the plate 'til it's finished...

Cheers!

 

[dave5155]

I had the exact same thing happening last week with wlp 838. It's just yeast riding escaping co2 bubbles.

 

[BigFloyd]

I had the exact same thing happening last week with wlp 838. It's just yeast riding escaping co2 bubbles.

I suspect this as well. After 24-30 hours on the plate, it's done. You now have a lovely batch of cottage cheese. 1968/002 is funny that way.

Watch your temps. This strain loves to drop out early if you keep it too cool or let it see a temp drop at the wrong time. It will form a rubbery cake that laughs at attempts to swirl it back into suspension. To avoid this, I start at 63-64*F, but step up the temp once it begins to slow to finish around 68-69*F.

 

[kh54s10]

When you make a starter your aim is to increase the cell count, not to ferment beer.

18 -24 hours is the time when the cell count tops out. Maybe a little longer. After this the cells stop reproducing and continue to ferment the "beer".

So, you don't need or even want the yeast to fully ferment the starter.

Cold crash the starter, pour off the liquid and you are good to go.

I have had starters that looked just milky and others that looked like cottage cheese. Don't worry too much about what it looks like. I would say it's just small clumps of yeast that happen to look like worms.

 

[J2W2]

Watch your temps. This strain loves to drop out early if you keep it too cool or let it see a temp drop at the wrong time. It will form a rubbery cake that laughs at attempts to swirl it back into suspension. To avoid this, I start at 63-64*F, but step up the temp once it begins to slow to finish around 68-69*F.

I had a heck of a time getting my stir bar spinning after I had the plate off for while. It's in the fridge now, it may be interesting getting it out of the flask.

My basement is running about 68 right now. I was just going to let it go on that. Do you think I need to start it lower?

 

[JonM]

Perfectly normal for that strain. People say it looks like egg drop soup.

And keep an eye on it once it's going in your batch. This stuff is a beast. For me, it usually takes off like a rocket, ferments super hard for maybe 12-18 hours (and the temperature can run away on you) and then boom - done.

EDIT: regarding temps, yes - definitely start it cooler than 68 but then warm it up after the initial burst of fermentation activity starts slowing down. It's a fantastic yeast - it just needs a little more TLC than other strains do.

 

[BigFloyd]

My basement is running about 68 right now. I was just going to let it go on that. Do you think I need to start it lower?

Yes. 68*F ambient is, IMO, about 5-7*F too high for this strain during the few days when vigorous activity is taking place. I've measured as much as a 7*F difference between air temp and fermenter temp. Others have reported even a few degrees more than that. It's a fine temp, however, to let it warm to once activity begins to drop off.

 

[J2W2]

Sounds good. I threw a couple of water jugs in the freezer, so I'll be ready in my fermenter. I'll set the thermostat at 63 and let it go. I'm planning to brew a 90 Shilling clone with it tomorrow.

Thanks as always for the great help!

 

[J2W2]

Watch your temps. This strain loves to drop out early if you keep it too cool or let it see a temp drop at the wrong time. It will form a rubbery cake that laughs at attempts to swirl it back into suspension. To avoid this, I start at 63-64*F, but step up the temp once it begins to slow to finish around 68-69*F.

I've had it running at 64 degrees for a little over three days now. At it's height, it was putting out around 80 bubbles a minute on the blow-off tube. It's dropped to about 35 bubbles a minute right now.

Is this the time to remove the ice jug and let it rise to room temp (68)?

Thanks!

 

[JonM]

Yes. You're right on target.

 

[khawk95]

The first time I did a starter with this yeast, it freaked me out a little bit. Thankfully, this forum eased my fears and the beer turned out great!

Keep those temps increasing towards the end to fully attenuate!

RDWHAHB

 

[J2W2]

The first time I did a starter with this yeast, it freaked me out a little bit. Thankfully, this forum eased my fears and the beer turned out great!

Keep those temps increasing towards the end to fully attenuate!

RDWHAHB

It hit 68 and that's it. We've had great weather (for Nebraska) this week, but nothing to raise the basement temperature. The blow-off tube was getting 2 bubbles a minute yesterday morning, and no activity by last night (day 5). I'll take a reading tomorrow to see where it's at.

 

[J2W2]

I just took my first reading - approximately 8 days since I pitched the yeast. The last several days the carboy has fluctuated between 69 and 70 degrees; we're still having unbelievable weather.

I'm using a refractometer that I got for Christmas to take the readings, and the Northern Brewer refractometer calculator (adjusts Brix) for my readings. Based on that, I had a SG of 1.058 and a FG of 1.014, with an ABV of 5.66%.

I'll have to take a couple more readings to make sure it's done, but it looks like the yeast performed well.

Thanks to everyone for their advice on this yeast!