Starter Problem....

[mcaustin]

So, after reading how great everyone's fermentation is when they make starters, I smacked my smack pack on Wednesday evening. Thursday night after work, I took my expanded smack pack, made a starter based on the "Starter FAQ" thread here. I did the following:

2.5 cups of water
3/4 cup of DME
Boiled 10 minutes, pitched the yeast at 75 degrees.


Fast forward to Saturday morning....

My starter still has not formed any bit of krausen at all... I used the big mason jar with aluminum foil container method, so I cannot monitor airlock activity. The yeast was obviously ok in the smack pack...

Should I just go ahead and brew, and pitch the starter and hope for the best???

I could drive to the LHBS and get a back up smack pack, but it's a good 35 minutes away.

Thanks!

 

[Toilet Rocker]

You know the yeast is good. Perhaps you didn't see the krausening, but it probaly took place if you prepared the starter correctly, which it sounds like you did. Bear in mind that with such a small "batch," the krausen is very easy to miss...unless you're eyeballing it constantly. You should be good to go.

One tip I've read is to swirl the jar slightly every so often to get those yeasts back in suspension. Don't overdo it (I did and my airlock filled with krausening).

 

[mcaustin]

Thanks for the quick reply. I suppose I'll go ahead and get on the brewing today then!

Austin

 

[david_42]

It is entirely possible that the yeast had enough oxygen that they never went into anaerobic mode.

 

[ajf]

I hardly ever get a noticeable krausen with my starters, but they work just fine.

With 2.5 cups water to 0.75 cups DME, your starter seems rather strong. This would tend to shock the yeast somewhat. I use 8 volumes of water to one of DME, which I hope results in a gravity of about 1.040 after boiling. However, I'm too lazy to check it.

Whatever, I'm sure your starter will be just fine, and the yeasties are looking forward to a nice 5g of tasy wort.

-a.

 

[boo boo]

Yes, that's a lot of DME for that amount of water.

I use 1 tablespoon DME per 1 cup of water and 1/16teaspoon of nutrient.

 

[mcaustin]

Thanks for all of the replies! I'm 25 minutes into my boil for the caramel cream ale that is so popular on here.

I agree that it sure seemed like a lot of DME for that amount of water, but it appeared to work well for whover it was that had it posted in the starter FAQ, so I gave it a shot.

We 'll see how it goes