First Yeast Starter

[lelandmccann]

Hello all,

I prepared my first yeast starter yesterday. I pitched around 5pm and put it on the stir plate. By around 10pm last night there was about a half inch of krausen. When I woke up this morning all the yeast cells were trying to drop to the bottom but of course the stir bar was just making them spin around. I have no idea for how many hours this was happening.
I figured fermentation was complete and there was no use in having the stir bar beat up the cells. They were obviously trying to go to sleep. I removed the starter from the stir plate and put it in the fridge.

Sound okay?

 

[aiptasia]

the stir bar isn't going to damage the yeast cells. Keeping them in suspension in the fluid is fine to ensure a complete fermentation.

 

[lelandmccann]

the stir bar isn't going to damage the yeast cells. Keeping them in suspension in the fluid is fine to ensure a complete fermentation.

I should have taken a picture of it. They looked chunky in a way and were all within the bottom couple inches of the flask. So that is normal and I should just let the yeast spin around longer?

 

[duboman]

Sounds good to me, once the starter has fermented out there is no need to keep beating them up with constant spinning. Happy brew day!

 

[helibrewer]

Some yeast strains clump and floc out really well, once you see that, you can kill the stir bar. Your time frame seems very reasonable for the starter to be complete.

 

[lelandmccann]

Well, it must have been pretty successful. Airlock activity 90min after pitching. It was Wyeast 1968 ESB.

 

[duboman]

Well, it must have been pretty successful. Airlock activity 90min after pitching. It was Wyeast 1968 ESB.

That's a beast of a yeast but it is highly flocculant! As fermentation slows be sure to rouse the yeast and raise the temp to keep it busy and fully attenuate. It will yield a great, crystal clear beer if treated properly.

 

[lelandmccann]

That's a beast of a yeast but it is highly flocculant! As fermentation slows be sure to rouse the yeast and raise the temp to keep it busy and fully attenuate. It will yield a great, crystal clear beer if treated properly.

I will do just that. Thanks for the tip!