Forgot to turn my stir plate on for 12 hours...whats my cell count?!

[bassclefbrewing]

So I'm making a fake octoberfest using kolsch yeast and so its REALLY important I have a large and healthy starter. Yesterday I made a 1.5L starter and put it on my stir plate without turning it on until this morning. The Krausen had already came and went already...will turning it on still increase my cell count to 280MM? Or am i stuck at 145MM Cells (What you'd get using the no-stirring equation)?

Will turning the stir plate on this morning do anything or should i assume my cell count is equal to that of a starter made without any shaking/stirring?

Should I ramp up my starter again then?

Cell count needed: 280MM Cells
Cell count w/ stir plate equation: 280MM Cells
Cell count w/o stir plate equation: 145MM Cells

 

[SevenOaks]

If it was me I would shake your starter to get the yeast in suspension and then pour half of it into a sanitized quart mason jar to have yeast to make a starter for a subsequent brew.
Then make another 1.5-2L starter on the stir plate with the other half.

In fact, that is exactly what I just did for the Oktoberfest/Kolsch that I will brew tomorrow!View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1440087216.939151.jpg

 

[SevenOaks]

And this is what I have in the fridge for next time.
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1440087522.196323.jpg

 

[bassclefbrewing]

Wow great idea! You just saved me $9 on my next octoberfest/kolsch!

Just so happens I had a 0.5L mason jar sitting around so i poured a 1/2L into there and kept the remaining liter in my flask to cold crash and decant tomorrow before adding more starter Wort. Im crazy worried about my mason jar being infected or exploding though.

Just curious since you're making the same thing with the same yeast. Whats your recipe? What temp. are you going to ferment WLP029 at? My only choices are 63F or 50F so I'm going to keep it at 63F for a few weeks and hope I don't get too many off flavors.

 

[bo_dangles]

I store overbuilt yeast in mason jars and I simply put the ring on loose for the first few days so that if pressure does build up it is released by pushing the sealed cap up. Once you know the yeast is dormant you can tighten up the ring and you're good to go.

 

[SevenOaks]

Did you sanitize your mason jar first? That would prevent any infection. Store it in the fridge and the yeasts will stay dormant.

My fermentation box only holds 2 fermentors and I already have an ESB in there at 64 so that is what I'll ferment the Kolsch yeast at, too. I think 63 for your yeast is the ideal temp so it should work great for you! I used this same yeast and temps for a schwarzbier early this year and it turned out really good.

 

[bassclefbrewing]

Oh cool...schwarzbier may be cool to try as thanks to you I have leftover yeast to play with. Brewed/pitched yesterday and this stuff was EXPLOSIVE haha. So yea...may have overpitched a bit.

On a completely different note when you do schwartzbiers/octoberfests do you make sure your entire grain bill is german? I sprung for american grain for my base malts then just added a few german specialty malts and now I'm regretting not spending the extra money for the real stuff.

 

[SevenOaks]

My taster isn't sophisticated enough to distinguish at that level but, that being said, yes, I do use German malts for these styles for the most part. However, I have a surplus of Munich malt right now and am thinking about using some as a base for some type of English ale.