starter out of control

[HighPlainsDrifter]

I made a starter up yesterday afternoon using 3/4 cup LDME and one liter of water. Sanitized, cooked, cooled, and pitched WYeast Belgian Wit. I had action in the air lock within 10 minutes. So far I have had to wash the airlock and clean the mess off of the stir plate six times (one time there was at least a half inch of yeast sitting in the bottom of the air lock). Finally I said to hell with the airlock and attached a loose foil cover. I let it sit a while with out stirring and poured off 200ml. I just came home to another mess.

On the bright side, my yeast is highly active and ready to rock. I was wondering if anyone else has ever experienced anything like this? Any ideas as to why?

 

[BierMuncher]

The beer Gods are smiling on you...

THree hours later:

 

[HighPlainsDrifter]

Hey!!! Have you been in my house taking pictures??? That looks exactly like what I have on my hands.

 

[FlyGuy]

Dude - it sounds like your wort is infected..... better pitch it.....






...with REALLY vigorous yeast ....and into the primary!

Sounds like you have a fabulous wit just waiting to create itself, there!

 

[DeathBrewer]

LDME? just out of curiousity, did you use liquid malt extract or dry malt extract?

 

[Alamo_Beer]

my guess is Light DME

 

[HighPlainsDrifter]

my guess is Light DME

Ding ding ding!

 

[Brewer3401]

I did a White Labs starter with German yeast a few years ago.

Made a 1,500 ml starter in a 2,000 liter E flask with magnetic stirrer.

Was painting inside of the house, and about 5 hours had gone by.

Came out, and it was so violent, the foam shot through the little holes in the 3 piece airlock, and had sprayed on the cabinet doors.

I think it sprayed a little under 2 feet.

Have never had one like that before.

 

[seawort]

hmm... just made a gallon starter and put it on the stirplate. Now i'm paranoid to go to bed for fear it will spew out the top as I am sleeping
guess i'll just have to relax, have a homebrew, and go to bed.

 

[DeathBrewer]

as long as it doesn't break out of its vessel and start attacking the neighbors, i think you'll be ok

 

[homebrewer_99]

hmm... just made a gallon starter and put it on the stirplate. Now i'm paranoid to go to bed for fear it will spew out the top as I am sleeping
guess i'll just have to relax, have a homebrew, and go to bed.

Put everything in a plastic tub...

 

[98EXL]

The beer Gods are smiling on you...

View attachment 2236

what causes that to happen? Did you dilute it with cooled then boiled water?

 

[seawort]

Put everything in a plastic tub...

everything is moving along nicely this morning without incident.
The stir plate prevents alot of collection of material on the top by stirring it back into the wort.
of course I only use about a pound of DME for the gallon not the pound and a half that caused the starter volcanoes... but I think its more a function of the stirring action.

 

[BierMuncher]

what causes that to happen? Did you dilute it with cooled then boiled water?

Just some dormant yeast starving for some food. I prolly used too high a concentration of DME (I think it was a 1/2 cup in a quart of water). But I wanted a big starter to pitch.

Usually if you can get to the starter container before it blows and give it a swirl, that mini krausen will subside and wash back down into the liquid.

 

[98EXL]

now I'm wondering if I have a mess in my closet....I filled 3 gallon jugs with what I washed yesterday...no airlocks....damnit

 

[BierMuncher]

now I'm wondering if I have a mess in my closet....I filled 3 gallon jugs with what I washed yesterday...no airlocks....damnit

Did you add DME?

If you just washed the yeast and have some extra water...then you may have some slight pressure with residual CO2 coming off the yeast.

If you fed those beasts a healthy diet of DME or other fermentable...uh...how far do you work from home?

 

[98EXL]

no, just a lot of water!

I didn't feed those, but I did feed my starter, and that looks awesome!
I have a cool pic to post of that later today

 

[HighPlainsDrifter]

as long as it doesn't break out of its vessel and start attacking the neighbors, i think you'll be ok

RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!!!!!!!!!

 

[mward]

Hmmmm I made a starter yesterday, 250 gm of DME and 2000ml of water, boiled, cooled, pitched wyeast 1968 and didn't get any kreusen but had constant airlock activiity, yeast in the bottom, and constant bubbles almost like carbonation. I pitched it into a porter 24 hours after making it while it was still going. Did I mess something up? It just didn't seem really active, not like what you guys got.

 

[Thalon]

That's the yeast strain. Some yeasts do like in the pictures, some yeasts act as if they're carbonating and just flocculate out. Yours will be just fine.

 

[mward]

Thalon: thanks for the info. I just went out and checked, I'm getting some activity already 3 hours later so it's all good!