Is my yeast starter messed up?

[premington]

Last night (Wednesday) I got a starter going for Saturday Brew Day. I created a 1.6 liter starter at 1.043 gravity and pitched White Labs WLP001 California Ale yeast. Everything went smoothly, and I put it on the spin plate at about 7:45 pm last evening. I woke this morning to see a beautiful ~1-1/2" krausen with streaks of swirling bubbles rising from the sides. Awesome!

I came home today, 12 hours later, to find the krausen had fallen, and I see very few, if any, bubbles rising from the side of the Erlenmeyer flask. It's been at room temperature (~72 F) and left undisturbed. I used yeast nutrient and, as always, am ultra careful about sanitation. The yeast were exactly 51 days old, according to the manufacturing date.

What happened? It's only been 24 hours. What did I do wrong? I haven't had this happen before.

 

[EDF713]

It’s probably done. Does it have any funky smells? I had a 2L wyeast 2124 starter finish about that fast once.

 

[jekeane]

19-24 hours is pretty typical.

 

[BrasserieDuChienBrun]

You could Put it in the fridge. The yeast will settle down. Take it out Saturday morning to bring it back to pitch temperature.

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, I've rarely had a starter not hit FG within 18 hours, and that includes 5 liter starters.
When you consider that same yeast in a properly pitched five gallon batch of 60 point wort will typically hit FG in 4-5 days (or even less) it's not surprising...

Cheers!

 

[BrasserieDuChienBrun]

You could also take a gravity reading to confirm the fermentation is done, but you will loose some liquid... along with the yeast in suspension. Unless you use a refractometer.

 

[VTX1300]

I use that yeast all of the time and it is usually finished in 18 hours when using a stir plate. No worries.

 

[premington]

Wow... Didn't immediately consider it might be fermented out. Every yeast I've used typically takes days to ferment out. I've never used WLP001 before. Thanks for all the replies. I'll take a gravity reading after I wake up and will see what's doin'.

 

[premington]

BrasserieDuChienBrun... I have a refractometer. No funky smells too, BTW. So I'm fairly hopeful it's fermented out. Thumbs up to that prospect!

 

[Miraculix]

I wouldn't even take a reading. It's done! Had this with several yeasts before, cold crash, bottle and prime the starter beer (just for fun, do it), and pitch the slurry

 

[premington]

I wouldn't even take a reading. It's done! Had this with several yeasts before, cold crash, bottle and prime the starter beer (just for fun, do it), and pitch the slurry

Yup! I do believe you are correct, my friend. Refractometer reading (corrected) is about 1.008. I put it in the fridge. Will pull it out tomorrow, decant, and pitch when it warms up.

Thanks... and cheers, my friends!

 

[Miraculix]

You are most welcome. I did this quite recently with a mangrove jack 44 starter (old dry yeast, starter to be sure it works), and the starter went through the roof in under 24h. I bottled the starter beer, two bottles, and the massive over pitch ended up in quite an interesting and unique flavour.it was very very fruity, but in a good way. The beer I brewed afterwards with that starter was fairly clean so it seems like a massive over pitch can also force the yeast to get some esthers into the beer. Don't know but was certainly fun to see how this yeast behaves under normal and over pitching conditions.

 

[premington]

I've never had the guts to bottle the starter. Just seems like a nasty wort to ferment. How have you found yours turned out, and what starter material (DME?) did you bottle?

 

[Miraculix]

I forgot to mention that I hopped my starter slightly, so technically it was actual beer.

I just used plain dme and 1g hops per liter. Boiled for 30 minutes.

Two bottles of nice and fruity beer.I had the feeling the starter beer displays the character of the yeast in a concentrated form, as the real beer I made afterwards with it, was much cleaner than the starter.

So overall just a fun thing to do to get to know the yeast a bit better.