My first starter, not so good.

[trainfever]

So Ive been reading up on starters and decided to start making and using them. I purchased a 2000ml Ehrlenmyer flask along with stopper and a 3 piece airlock. I cleaned and sanitized the flask even though it wasnt necessary because I will be boiling the wort. I also cleaned and sanitized the stopper, airlock and a glass YooHoo bottle. I added 8 ounces of DME to about 40 ounces of water. Ill explain the extra 8 ounces in a bit. I then boiled everything for 15 minutes. After cooling, I poured out 8 ounces of the wort into the clean and sanitized glass YooHoo bottle. I then pored a vial of liquid yeast into the flask, shook everything up and then placed the stopper and airlock on top. Now for the 8 ounces of wort in YooHoo bottle. From my first batch of beer(Im still a noobie) I saved the yeast from my last bottle in a yeast vial. I poured those contents into the YooHoo bottle and covered it with plastic wrap. Now this morning, the YooHoo bottle has a nice head of foam on it but the flask has nothing. Theres no pressure in the airlock either.

My concern in that when I brought the vial of yeast home, I noticed that the "best before" date had expired. I called the LBHS and he told me that the yeast would still be good for a couple weeks. I wasnt concerned because I knew I would be using it this weekend. Is there a way to tell if the yeast was good? I have another vial of yeast which is dated for January, I bought two kits from him. Should I wait or should I pitch the other vial? I wanted to brew a batch tomorrow and need time for the starter to ferment. Any advice?

 

[HighPlainsDrifter]

It should be OK if you cooled to near the proper temp. Sometimes its hard to see any activity in a starter. Wait a little while longer and see what happens.

 

[david_42]

Starters are for growing yeast. Growing yeast does not produce CO2 (well, very little). The YooHoo bottle's yeast ran out of the nutrients necessary to grow and started making CO2.

 

[asbd2c]

I cleaned and sanitized the flask even though it wasnt necessary because I will be boiling the wort.

What do you mean by this?

I may be just misreading what you wrote, but anything coming in contact with the wort, post boil, needs to be cleaned and sanitized.

Or are you saying that you boiled the wort in the flask?


-Andy

 

[trainfever]

What do you mean by this?

I may be just misreading what you wrote, but anything coming in contact with the wort, post boil, needs to be cleaned and sanitized.

Or are you saying that you boiled the wort in the flask?


-Andy

I boiled in the flask so I knew that would sterilize the flask.

 

[Blender]

I don't use an airlock when making starters. You want the wort to uptake O2 so I just cover the top with foil. Before I had a stirplate I used to shake it every few hours to help it along. Here is a nice write up on yeast culturing.
http://www.maltosefalcons.com/tech/MB_Raines_Guide_to_Yeast_Culturing.php

 

[trainfever]

I appreciate the responses but you are mising my question. The yeast was past it's "best by" date and I want to know how I can tell if it was still good. I saw no activity and I still dont see any signs that there was activity? Shouldnt there be a significant amount of yeast at the bottom of the flask?

 

[Jamo99]

I would give it some more time. You could always pick up some more yeast today or tomorrow if necessary. I don't know of any other way to "check" for yeast viability than seeing some activity. You could take a gravity reading to see if there has been any drop in the OG. Since it's just some DME and water you could hunt down some calculations and figure it out yourself (or sacrafice some DME and mix up the same solution and test that).

The yeast will drop down to the bottom of your flask, but that large amount is initially made up of cold break from your DME I believe.

where in philly are you? I am too and was wondering which shop you use. I'm in Roxborough and actually go up to Keystone's Montgomeryvilly store.

 

[Blender]

You should see some indication that the yeast are reproducing. It might not be krausen but maybe some slight bubbling around the edge of the flask. I am guessing but it is likely some of the yeast are fine but not as great because of the expiration date.

 

[Junebug]

My starter didn't have a lot of visible activity (my last brew was the first time I ever made a starter) but I could definitely smell the fermentation part when I poured it into my wort. Even though the starter didn't look impressive, the air lock in my carboy was merrily bubbling when I checked just four hours later. I'll bet that your starter is fine. Keep us posted!

 

[eddie]

Your yeast should be fine. I've used yeast that were months past the date on the vial and been fine. When using vials, the best way to check and see if the yeast are alive is to make a starter out of them and that seems to be exactly what you're doing. If you are not using a stir-plate, you should give the flask a good swirl as often as you can to get the yeast back into suspension in the wort and in contact with the sugars and nutrients. If you don't swirl the flask, the yeast will just settle to the bottom and you won't get much growth.

Here are a couple links with great info that should help you out;

http://www.mrmalty.com/

http://www.maltosefalcons.com/tech/MB_Raines_Guide_to_Yeast_Culturing.php

 

[trainfever]

where in philly are you? I am too and was wondering which shop you use. I'm in Roxborough and actually go up to Keystone's Montgomeryvilly store.

I've never been to Keystones although I've heard about it. The two places I go to are "Wine, Barley and Hops" on Bustleton Ave, just outside Philly and "Barrys Homebrew" at Front and Snyder. Barrys has better prices but WBH has a better selection and its closer.