Please Help! Yeast starter overflowed and smells sour..

[markley]

Hey all..I planned on brewing an ipa extract kit this evening and made up a starter last night. The yeast I used is WLP001 california ale yeast.

I made a 1L starter and I do not have a stir plate. I followed all the directions to make the starter, and just swirled to agitate a few times. I came home from work to find that the starter had overflowed (used a flask with sanitized foil over top) on to the counter. There was a decent amount of white milky sludge (which I can only assume is yeast). Also, the starter has a sour smell to it (similar to a cider).

*Also, I have read that folks have experienced a sour smell with this yeast. And for what its worth, I still have the empty vial and it smells identical to the starter.

So, with the overflow (maybe lost ~50 mL total volume) and the smell..would it be best to wait and get new yeast?

Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[daksin]

I'd say you're probably fine. Yeast starters can smell a little tangy. You didn't happen to taste any of the spilled yeast did you? You'd know if it was sour. It's a bad milk + berlinerweisse flavor.

 

[Nike_Eayrs]

I've got a similar situation going on, my starter smells pretty sour.


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[jbaysurfer]

I've got a similar situation going on, my starter smells pretty sour.


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If it smells "pretty sour" I'd be careful. Daksin is right about it possibly smelling "tangy" or just STRONG in general. But if it's notably sour, or smells like feces (yup, I've smelled this in yeast before), it's best to start over and save the ensuing batch of beer.

 

[markley]

Mine smells okay..just a little sour or cidery.

As I said the empty vial has the same smell. I'm also concerned that I lost some..I guess that it will be okay?

 

[Weezy]

Cider/tart/sour smells are not uncommon in m experience. It can be scary to have the yeast churn out what is also considered a common beer flaw, but is not usually a problem (contamination) with the starter. Smell the yeast before you pitch in the starter. If your getting sour odor from the dormant sample, you've likely got a problem. If the source smells sweet or otherwise normal, then you're left with your own sanitation to worry about with making and handling the starter.

That's been my experience anyways and I can't testify to it.

 

[markley]

Thanks for the replies! So I think I'm gonna cold crash my starter tonight and brew tomorrow or the next day. Quick question though, Is it okay to cold crash now even though the krausen is still building? It appears to be ready to overflow again.

Also, when you say dormant sample are you referring to after cold crashing? after krausen done?

 

[jbaysurfer]

Thanks for the replies! So I think I'm gonna cold crash my starter tonight and brew tomorrow or the next day. Quick question though, Is it okay to cold crash now even though the krausen is still building? It appears to be ready to overflow again.

Also, when you say dormant sample are you referring to after cold crashing? after krausen done?

It's too early to cold crash. Generally I like to have minimum 48 hours to cold crash. Otherwise it won't all floc out and you'll be decanting your late flocculators (the same cells that do the cleanup work after your fermentation is done on your main batch) and only pitching the earlier flocculators. I'd just let it finish out and pitch the whole thing so long as it's less then say, 2L into a 5G batch.