How long can yeast starter stay on stir plate?

[dmbnpj]

We are planning on brewing this Friday. Planning on making the yeast starter today. It might rain Friday here and delay our brewing until next Friday. How should we handle the yeast starter on the stir plate if we are delayed until next Friday? Keep it, refrigerate, etc?

Thanks

 

[BBL_Brewer]

Once it's done, throw it in the fridge. Pull it out and step it up a day or two before brew day.

 

[dmbnpj]

by step it up do you mean add a little more boiled/cooled DME solution and put it back on the stir plate?

 

[BBL_Brewer]

by step it up do you mean add a little more boiled/cooled DME solution and put it back on the stir plate?

Yup. Decant/siphon off the starter beer and add some more wort. You don't have to use as much as you did for the original starter. Just enough to reenergize the yeast before you pitch.

 

[KevinW]

If you don't want to step it up you could just let the starter finish in about 3-4 days, put in fridge for at least 24 hours then decant and pitch on brewday, as another option!

The starter will keep in the fridge for a week or so without any ill-effects!

 

[dmbnpj]

Using Wyeast, how much starter wort do you start off using in a large erlenmeyer flask?

 

[BiscayneBrewing]

I usually use 3/4 cup of DME to 6 cups of water for a 2L flask.

 

[KevinW]

Depends on the size and OG of the batch! MrMalty's yeast calculator is the best tool for that - Mrmalty.com!

I use 10gm of Xtra Lite DME per 100ml of water for a ~1.040 wort. I generally use a 1500ml starter (150gm of DME to 1500ml water).

Boil water (remove from heat when adding DME to prevent boilovers) add DME. Gently bring back to boil. Boil for 8-10 minutes. Cool to temp that the starter will be sitting at.
Sanitize outside of yeast pack, cut a corner off with sanitized scissors, pour into wort that has been added to flask. Start a gentle whirlpool, just enough to circulate the yeast! Cover with sanitized foil and pitch in 12-18 hours (high krausen) or wait a few days, cool, then decant and pitch!

I break the nutrient pack on wyeast packs and I also add yeast nutrient to the starter (just a pinch)

 

[dmbnpj]

Depends on the size and OG of the batch! MrMalty's yeast calculator is the best tool for that - Mrmalty.com!

How do you use this thing? What does telling me 168 billion yeast cells mean? How would I go about measuring that?

 

[strat_thru_marshall]

How do you use this thing? What does telling me 168 billion yeast cells mean? How would I go about measuring that?

count them. 1 by 1. thats how we all do it.

 

[dmbnpj]

well im on 10k but by my calculations this could take weeks, possibly hundreds of years.....there has to be another way?

 

[BMan1029]

count them. 1 by 1. Thats how we all do it.

lmao