stuck starter

Hi all!

I recently decided to try this home brew thing again, and put together an octobefest lagar at the local brew supply house.

Anyways, the guy said the yeast was maybe a little old, but should be fine if I made a starter. So, I did. put it in a gallon jug with an airlock, and left it on the counter for about 6 hours. I had to leave town, so I stuck it in the fermentation fridge where it sat around 52 degrees for the next few days.

My wife said there were bubbles coming from the airlock at one point. I had her "stir" it daily.

I wasn't sure if it was doing anything, so i made a step up batch of starter form some light dry malt extract and filled three 22 oz bottles. Then shook and seperated the first batch between the three.

Been in the fridge for a week, and I have yet to see any action. Is it dead? is it safe to pitch? should I start over? was the yeast bad to begin with?

I do have bit of setiment at the bottom of each bottle.

Thanks!

All starters, ale or lager, are done best at room temp. All yeasts prefer to be warm, but we prefer the flavors they make at certain temps. If it ever had any activity, it is probably fine to pitch, and starters can finish fermenting in a matter of hours. Next time, leave it on the counter for the duration, shaking it up every few hours. After a few days, it should be ready to pitch. Or after a few days you can throw it in the fridge to keep it fresh and help it flocculate so you can decant off the liquid, and pitch it within a week or so.

OK, so I took another look tonight, and there seems to be a lot of settled yeast at the bottom of these bottles, so I am assuming they have done what they need to do.

Should I take them out of the fridge for a few days to see if there is any more action?

Thanks again all! I am so glad I found this forum. I will soon be signing up for a sponsorship to show my gratitude for a great community.

Oh yeah, I would like to brew on Sunday, so I hope this is gonna work. I will be making a trip by the home brew store in Great Falls, so i wonder if I should pick up a different yeast, or maybe a dry yeast, just in case?

I can't tell you the condition of your yeast but a few spare packs of dry yeast are always a good idea. You never know when you might need it. What brand and type of yeast was it? Is this a true lager recipe?

Also there is no need to use an airlock when making a starter. Just use some sanitized foil so there is some O2 uptake during the process.

Yeast was a White Labs WLP820 oktoberfest lagar yeast.

AAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGGGG!

I tried this whole starter thing again. This time around, boiled a pound of LME for 15 minutes in a gallon of water. Was shooting for an OG of 1.040, came out at 1.050, so good.

I had the yeast out on the counter to come to room temp, it was 69 in the house last night.

Chilled the wort in an ice bath, and then ran into a problem. My temp sensor seemed to be all over the map. So scrapped the temp probe and just left the wort in the 1/2 gallon glass jug on the counter covered with sterile tin foil for another 1 1/2 hours. the wort seemed to be sitting at room temp, so pitched put on the airlock and moved to a cool dark corner.

This was last night, and still no activity by tonight. and yes, i shook the S@#t out of this to be sure it was well aerated before pitching. I have given it a swirl every couple of hours since waking up this morning, and have seen zero activity.

I'm about to scrap this whole starter thing, and go back to just pitching a single vial of yeast when I brew. I have only brewed one lager in the past, but it turned out fine this way.

I do have another vial of yeast, so i could place it next to the starter for a couple of hours tonight to bring it to temp, and pitch it to see if it takes off????

What do you think?

Thanks for any and all advice.

If you are really stressing about it...Take a gravity reading and see where it is at. Like BarleyWater said, starters can ferment out in a matter of hours, so it may actually be done.

Warped04 said:

If you are really stressing about it...Take a gravity reading and see where it is at. Like BarleyWater said, starters can ferment out in a matter of hours, so it may actually be done.

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Done, and it hasn't budged. I am really frustrated with this whole process

2nd day of the 2nd try, and still nothin!

The gravity reading you took yesterday was still 1.050?

Yep, it hasn't budged at all.

Well that is totally boo. Do you have an idea what temperature it was at when you pitched this batch? (I know you had issues with the first). And did you try "rousing" it?

My best guess, is it was around 70 degrees, maybe a little less. It was definitely cool enough, but not sure what the differential between the yeast and the starter was.

Not sure what you mean by "rouse" it, but I was giving it a good shake every few hours after the first 5 or 6.

Yeah, rousing is like a little swirling type action.

It sounds like you did everything right. I'd try giving it 1 more swirl to see if you can't get the yeast in suspension, and if that fails, I'd contact the LHBS you got the yeast from. What was the expiration date on the yeast?

We have Liftoff!

OK, here is what I did, maybe not the best plan but it seems to be working. the original starter I made that was divided among the three beer bottles I had moved to the fridge with airlocks on, just to keep an eye on it and see what would happen. More of a curiousity than anything. I just didn't want to throw it out. Yesterday I took one out, and there was quite a bit of setiment on the bottom.

Figuring "what the hell" I took off most of the liquid and set it on the counter. Once it was a few degrees cooler than the big starter from two nights ago I pitched and swirled.

Before pitching I worked up both containers, sanitized the openings, and made a new sanitized piece of aluminum foil for the top (before I was using the airlocks with a stopper)

It has been sitting in the back room between 60-65 degrees since yesterday. I gave it a swirl every few hours. This morning I have a nice active fermentation happening. No off smells or anyting unusual, so I think I'm OK.

Now the big question I have is this, should I brew tonight and pitch while it is active?

If not, I will be leaving tomorrow night (thursday) and will be gone until next tuesday. So my other option would be to move the starter to the lagar fridge tomorrow before I leave and bring the temp down. I figure that way everything should be out of suspension when I get back so I can brew, decant the liquid off of the yeast starter and pitch it then.

So, it's been in the fridge this whole time?

I must have misread that. I am totally a newb when it comes to lagers, lager yeasts, and anything having to do with them.

So anyone, please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think even when you make a starter for a lager, it should be done at room temperature. Like I said, I'm a n00b when it comes to lagers.

I don't know the answer to your question, I wish I could help you there. I'm just glad your starter finally took off.

No, this is the second batch that I tried and I did it at room temp. the first batch I tried was in the fridge and now I see why not to do it that way. It appears as though it actually did ferment, it just took a good long while to do it.

I added 2/3 of the first batch (I did them in three seperate beer bottles) to this bigger 1/2 gallon batch and now it seems to be running strong at room temp of about 65 degrees.

I am wondering now if I should brew while it is fully active, or put in the fridge when I leave and brew when i get back?

and should I pitch at room temp, then into the fridge or cool the starter and pitch a lagar temps?

Warped04 said:

I don't know the answer to your question, I wish I could help you there. I'm just glad your starter finally took off.

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ME TOO!