Starter and krausen

[interplexr]

I just made my first starter with a stir plate. I pitched last night and turned the stir plate on and left it. This morning it looked pretty cloudy but I didn't see any evidence of a krausen. There was a good whirlpool going. After I got home from work this evening there was still no krausen. I just the stir plate off and it almost immediately started clearing. I was just curious if this was normal.

 

[The_Dtrain]

I've been stepping a starter since Monday and it started to showed signs of krausen yesterday. But that was after the power went off and the stir plate shut off for an hour. I shut it off today for about and hour and there was a huge head of krausen.

IIRC, i've read posts where some brewers never see krausen when they make starters.

 

[jgourd]

I've never had krausen in my starters. I usually make my starter in the evening of the day before I brew. I let it go on the stir plate all night and throughout the next day while I'm brewing. By the time I pitch, it's been on the stir plate for about 18-20 hours. And fermentation is rolling in usually 6 hours.

 

[Revvy]

Just like in the fermenter, fermentation isn't always dynamic...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,) 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.

As it is I've only ever seen two krausens actually on my starter, and the evidence of one on the flask at the "waterline" once. But I've never not had a starter take off.

 

[kryolla]

last starter I made with wyeast 1272 was a 1l in a 2l flask on a stirplate and I had so much krausen that I couldn't see the whirlpool.

 

[GLoBaLReBeL]

Just did a 1L starter in a 2L flask. Used White labs 002 Ale yeast for a Stone IPA clone, let it run for 2 days on the stir plate, no krausen at all, but when I pulled it out of the fridge after 24 hours, I had me a NICE THICK layer of yeast at the bottom! It must have at least created 5X the amount of yeast!

 

[RiverCityBrewer]

last starter I made with wyeast 1272 was a 1l in a 2l flask on a stirplate and I had so much krausen that I couldn't see the whirlpool.

I like to make 2L starters in a 2L flask, and I also use a stirplate so I use a bit of fermcap in the starter to keep the counter clean and the wife happy!