First starter question

[tochsner]

I decided to try to make a small starter form my brewday tomorrow. I expect to pitch around noon. Somewhere I read to make the starter 48 hours ahead so thats what I did. Made a .5l starter (per BeerSmith) with Wyeast 1056 yesterday about noon and put it on a stir plate. By 10 o'clock last night, all signs of fermentation were gone. I just set it on the counter overnight at room temperature and this morning the wort is clear and there is a little yeast cake at the bottom. It's such a small starter, I wasn't going to cold crash. Plus I found some threads here that suggest that's bad for the yeast anyway. Can I just leave it at room temperature and pitch the whole thing tomorrow? Should I make a new one later today?

 

[WhiteEagle1]

I have a thread on this topic as well. Made my starter 10pm last night, just put it in the fridge to cold crash & decant. then will add more wort, let it sit for 12 hrs and repeat.

 

[Revvy]

That's fine. I rarely if ever put my starters in the fridge. I don't seen the need to cold crash them, plus it seems counter productive, why would you want to put the yeast to sleep when you're just about to need it? Part of the reason to make a starter is to have the yeast all active and raring to go when you add it to the wort, making the yeast dormant means you have to wait longer for it to wake up.

Just leave it for tomorrow, or even feed it some more wort.

 

[RandomBeerGuy]

Sounds like your ready to pitch it today at noon. Pretty normal starter to me.

 

[sjbeerman]

For large starters it's necessary to cold crash then decant to avoid pitching heavily oxidized wort.

 

[tochsner]

Sounds like your ready to pitch it today at noon. Pretty normal starter to me.

Except that I am pitching tomorrow at noon. Will it still be okay?

 

[RandomBeerGuy]

Yes it will be ok. No worries. sorry I though this was posted yesterday. Still waking up

 

[Billybrewer09]

Not trying to start an argument or hijack a thread, but from reading several articles on yeast. I'm not really sure that a half liter starter is enough to get sufficient yeast growth for pitching. I still believe you will be fine, as for years people pitched a single smack pack directly into 5 gallons and beer was made.
as far as cold crashing i always do. I take my starter out of the fridge an hour before I'm ready to use it, decant and pitch. If i remember right Denny Conn does the same thing.

 

[tochsner]

Not trying to start an argument or hijack a thread, but from reading several articles on yeast. I'm not really sure that a half liter starter is enough to get sufficient yeast growth for pitching. I still believe you will be fine, as for years people pitched a single smack pack directly into 5 gallons and beer was made.
as far as cold crashing i always do. I take my starter out of the fridge an hour before I'm ready to use it, decant and pitch. If i remember right Denny Conn does the same thing.

I know what you mean about starter size but that was according to BeerSmith. For the recipe it calls for 235 billion cells. With a stir plate it says 1 pack in .5 liters will make 281 billion cells. BeerSmith actually says a .44l starter.
I would have been comfortable just pitching the smack pack in this beer but I wanted to try a starter.
My concern was just letting the starter sit for 36 hours with all the yeast on the bottom and nothing going on. It occurs to me that people rack a beer off a yeast cake and just put another beer on top of it. This is about the same.

 

[Billybrewer09]

I've never used beersmith. I use mr.malty if i even use a calculator. I dont know what your OG is but i put in 1.065 with a production date of today in mr malty and it says a 1 liter starter.
like i said, im not trying to start an argument, but i dont see how a half liter can produce 1billion cells.
As far as letting the starter sit, i think you will be fine. The yeast are protected by beer. I would personally put it in the fridge but like i said in my previous post i like to pitch cool yeast.

 

[RandomBeerGuy]

Just stick with your starter you have nothing to worry about.

 

[tochsner]

I guess I should have just relaxed. Everything worked great. Obvious fermentation was happening in 8 hours.

Thanks again for all the opinions.

 

[RandomBeerGuy]

I guess I should have just relaxed. Everything worked great. Obvious fermentation was happening in 8 hours.

Thanks again for all the opinions.

See I told ya. You must believe in your process. I brewed an apricot ale today and I had a less than 12 hour starter and it already going.