Am I just being paranoid?

[Joewalla88]

Alright, so I just make my starters by mixing up a quart of boiled water with 1/2 cup of DME, and then I put it in a growler. When I cools I pitch the yeast and let it sit for a couple of days with an airlock. I'm kinda worried about the starter I have going for this weekends brew day, because there's a slight chance that I could have used this airlock on a lacto starter I did about a month ago. I rinsed the airlock and sprayed it down with Starsan, and I'm not even certain it's the same one, but do you think I'm okay here. Am I just being paranoid? Next time I do a lacto starter I'll make sure to keep track of which airlock I use.

 

[jtratcliff]

Hmmm... Tough call.... How long does it take lacto to take hold? Shouldn't you be able to tell by smell if you've got a lacto infection in your starter?

 

[Gavin C]

An airlock is contra-indicated for a starter. You want oxygen to be readily available to the starter to promote yeast growth. I place a little aluminum foil or a spongy plug in the opening. I also use a stir plate to promote oxygenation.

Ditch the airlock and you won't have to keep track of it. If it was sanitized no worries anyway. Just contra-indicated stuff

 

[Joewalla88]

That makes sense. I never thought of it that way. I just treated it like I was making a 1 quart beer. Thanks! So the starsan should put me in the clear then? It looks fine to me.

 

[Gavin C]

Yep Starsan will work very well

 

[Joewalla88]

Cool, thanks!

 

[Gavin C]

No worries glad to help.

 

[DrKnow]

Lacto is an extremely fragile organism. Even when I have created perfect conditions with zero competition to favor it's growth it has failed me. It's quite the primadonna of microrganisms. If your starter smells/tastes free of lactic acid, you should be fine.