Need Starter help

[Phril]

I finally got a stirplate and tried my first ever starter, which did nothing. I pitched a 10 month old smack pack of wyeast 3056, Bavarian Wheat Blend, into a 1.5 cups of DME in 1.6 liters. I put it on the stirplate for 2 days, and seeing nothing, decided to check the gravity, it was around 1.045, so I presume it did nothing (sorry, in my excitement to try the stirplate, I forgot to check the gravity prior to pitching).

So, now, what can/should I do?
Is it OK to use the 1.6 liters? It has been at room temp 4 days now. Pretty sure I have used sanitary techniques. If I toss in a dry pack such as S-05, would it retain any of the 3056 character, or would it simply be S-05 at this point?

Would it be better to boil this 1.6 liters and try fresh yeast?
Should I abandon this, toss it and start over with fresh yeast and fresh DME?

This was part of the williams brewing watermelon ale kit, anyone tried that one? I got it, then didn't brew for several months, so I assume all responsibility for killing off the poor yeast, although it was stored in my kegerator the whole time.

Thanks,
-Phril

 

[Bowtiebrewery]

Welcome to the board...

1. Throw out the starter wort... its probably not going to do anything for you... its a small price to pay...

2. Dry yeast does not need a starter so you can pitch that s-05 strait into your wort after the brew day. You may want to bloom the yeast prior to pitching but thats your decision, not everyone does it...

3. If you were going to get another smack pack of 3056 check the date on the pack at your local home brew store and make sure it was created in the last 1-2 months....

A great resource for making starters is found here at http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

Good luck

 

[Brew-boy]

I am not sure how much 1.5 cups weigh as I use the metric system for my starters. 10grams to every 100ml. So a 1600ml starter would have 160grams of DME. Most starters around the 1.03-1.04 range so if your sitting at 1.045 I would agree the yeast is more likely dead. Get new yeast and make a fresh starter.

 

[TipsyDragon]

i vote for fresh yeast and a new starter.

the yeast may be suficating. whats your aeration technique?

 

[Phril]

Along with the stirplate stuff, I also got a new aeration stone, so I hit it for a few seconds with O2, enough to get some good bubbles coming to the surface.

 

[TipsyDragon]

yea that will do it. i would probably aerate for a full minute but a few seconds is probably enough.

 

[Phril]

Hmmm, Patience a Virtue??

After the initial let down, I just turned the stirplate off and let the flask sit. Today (6 days later) I checked on my failed starter. Much to my surprise, I had a nice layer of what looked like the head on a BMC beer on top - big airy bubbles. :rockin: The smell was very sweet and fruity, sorta wine-like. Is there any way this yeast woke up and fermented? When I touched the flask, the "head" quickly dissapated, so I doubt this is what we would call a krausen, but something happened. I haven't taken a gravity reading, should I?

I went to my LHBS and got some new yeast, so I don't intend to use this starter, but am wondering if there is anything to the above.

 

[Ohio-Ed]

I am in a similar boat, I made my first starter from harvested yeast on Tuesday (3 days ago), and have seen no activity yet.

Don't want to hijack your thread, just waiting to see what folks have to say.

 

[HomerJR]

I've had starters that didn't take off very quickly. If you've got head on the starter, I think you're good. I try to give my starters a good swirl every so often, several times a day at least, to keep the yeast moving. Seems to help. Anyway, check the gravity of the starter, if you're satisfied with the SG, I'd use it. No sense spending money when you don't have to.

 

[Phril]

Well, I checked the gravity on my starter, it was 1.010, so I figured the yeast must have multiplied and done their thing. So, I decided I would go ahead and use this starter, so I crashed it in the fridge and decanted about 3/4 of the liquid and pitched it (at room temp). 12 hrs later, I have a nice 1" krausen in my fermenter and steady bubbling through the airlock, and it smells wonderful. I also put 1.5 Tbsp of biotin yeast nutrient in my kettle for 15 min, and aerated 1 min with O2.
So, it looks like it was successful, and the only problem is I didn't get to brew on my original brew date, but a week later.