No Signs Of Life In Starter

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WrongCoastBrewery

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Hopefully, I will be brewing a high gravity lager this week (SG 1.090). However, my starter has shown no signs of life after 24hrs. Not even a slight sign. Its just spinning on my stir plate, looking like when I pitched the yeast. There isnt even a sign of activity. I used the Wyeast American Lager strain in 1000ml and the the flask is at about 66F. Its production date was January 11th too. So is it dead or should I just pitch it?
 
I'd let it settle and see if you have any more volume of yeast than you did when you started. I've take a SG reading when doing my starters, I add water to get 1.040 and then If I'm unsure I can take another to see if there is any activity. Luckily I haven't had to take a second reading yet as they've all shown some activity.

But, for the price if yeast and if you can pick up some more I wouldn't chance it.
 
I had the same issue the other day.
I shut off the stir plate, and stuck an airlock on the flask.
Air lock started bubbling, so I know the yeast was working.
Removed airlock, and turned stir plate back on.
 
If by activity you mean foaming, I have never had foaming while on a stirplate. The only activity I notice is when the color gets more orange juice like.

Where in DC are you. I live in Germantown, MD.

-Cheers
 
If by activity you mean foaming, I have never had foaming while on a stirplate. The only activity I notice is when the color gets more orange juice like.

Where in DC are you. I live in Germantown, MD.

-Cheers

All of my starters usually have a slight amount of krausen, even on the stir plate. But by activity, I mean signs of yeast settling, small CO2 bubbles, and the color going from murky pond water to an even light tan color. I saved that starter in some sanitized jars and started another last night. Same yeast and everything. Must have been the yeast. The second one took off no problem on the stir plate.

Oh, and I am in NW DC by the convention center. I am sure my neighbors think I am making crack or something.....haha!
 
I've had some starters that looked like they were fermenting- cloudy, with a bit of a krausen, and some that showed not a glimmer of a hint. In fact, I was convinced it didn't do anything one time, so I checked the SG and it was under 1.020.

So, my advice is if you are really worried, check the SG. You might be surprised!
 
Just remember one thing....activity in a starter really only means one thing and one thing only.

It doesn't matter one blip in your fermenter or your starter flask if the airlock bubbles or not (if you are using an airlock and not tinfoil if you are using tinfoil, you aren't getting bibbling anyway,) or if you see a krauzen. In fact starter fermentation are some of the fastest or slowest but most importantly, the most boring fermentations out there. Usually it's done withing a few hours of yeast pitch...usually overnight when we are sleeping, and the starter looks like nothing ever happened...except for the little band at the bottom. Or it can take awhile...but either way there's often no "activity" whatsoever....

I usually run my stirplate for the first 24 hours, then shut it down, if you are spinning your starter it is really hard to get a krausen to form anyway, since it's all spinning, and there's often a head of foam on it from the movement.


All that really matters is that creamy band o yeast at the bottom.



rsz_yeast_starter_chilled_001.jpg


This is a chilled sample so it's flocculated, but even with an unchilled sample you should see a band of yeast at the bottom. Here's an unchilled version

starter.jpg


Same thing, a band.

As it is I've only ever seen two or three krausens actually on my starter (one blew off a bunch of krausen and knocked the tinfoil off the flask,) and the evidence of one on the flask at the "waterline" once. But I've never not had a starter take off.

Look for the yeast at the bottom, don't worry what it looks like on top.

If you have yeast on the bottom....that's all you really need.

If it looks anything like that, your are ready to either feed it again, or use it.

People always think the yeast at the bottom of the flask is the same, but they are wrong. I am 100% sure your starter took off fine.

:mug:
 
Like I said before, it just never took off. It spun for 24hrs and I looked at it this morning in the fridge. I would say less than a mm of yeast. More like a VERY thin line. The other one I did had tons of it. Not sure what happened. Even the new one I started had a bit of foaming. It was a lovely light tan just before shutting the plate off. I still have no clue what happened. Both were 2000ml starters using the 10:1 ratio for DME. Both used a dash of Wyeast yeast nutrients. I did save the one that did take off. I may try to let it spin for another 24hrs just to see what happens. Oh well, luckily I had another smack pack of the yeast I want to use.

Oh and I will still check the gravity to see what happened.
 
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