How long can yeast starter stay in fridge?

[mbwaterdog]

Hey all,

New to the board, but not to home brewing I ordered some Wyeast 1318 about a month ago (nearest LHBS is an hour away) and it arrived 3 weeks ago. I immediately planned a 2-step starter, but life happened and I still haven't brewed. I made a starter as soon as it arrived, put it in the fridge for ~1 week, then made another starter and it has been in the fridge since then. Unfortunately, life happened and I won't be able to brew for another 10-12 days. The starter is currently in the fridge in my Erlenmeyer and tightly covered with foil (it still has starter wort in it). Now, I have wrangled/harvested yeast many times and stored long-term in mason jars, but I'm not sure what do to in this case. Will my yeast be good for another 10-12 days? Should I decant the starter wort to avoid oxidation?

 

[JohnSand]

I don't think oxidation is a problem in a starter. I also think anything that was going to happen has already happened. You're probably good.
Welcome aboard, let us know how it works out.

 

[GoeHaarden]

It should be good as long as you kept everything sanitized very well, and you kept bugs out. I've had life happen too, and used one that was about 3 weeks old without an issue. Maybe I'm wrong, but oxidation isn't a concern for starters as you're only building up healthy yeast and not flavors. I usually just decant before I pitch...

 

[day_trippr]

So we're looking at 2.5 week old starter? NBD, decant the spent wort leaving just enough to swirl up the yeast and get it unstuck from the bottom, let it warm up to pitching temperature and let 'er rip.

If there was sufficient volume of yeast to begin with the fermentation should run just fine. 2.5 weeks isn't going to reduce the viability by much...

Cheers!

 

[Packerjh]

I recently did almost the same thing as the op.... Did as daytripper said and had no issues.... Vigorous fermentation within 8 hours.

 

[kh54s10]

Same has happened to me. I plan to brew tomorrow. Tonight I am going to decant the liquid, add .5 liters of starter wort and have it on the stirplate over night. I will pitch all of that without decanting it.

This addition more to revive/feed the yeast rather than propagating.

 

[mbwaterdog]

Thanks all. I brewed yesterday and it's bubbling away!

 

[Sparger]

I do this all the time. I decant all of the spent clear starter wort and add in some of the new unfermented wort. swish it around until the clumps unstick from the bottom and then pitch.