Starter question

[suttonjs2]

I made a starter last Friday night with 12 cups of water, 3 cups light DME and a vial of WLP530. I'm pretty sure it's done fermenting, and I plan on putting it in the fridge when I get home from work tonight.

I had an insufficient ice bath and it took about 30 minutes to finally get it down to 80 degrees. The whole time it was cooling down the pot was lidless and open. What is the likelihood of contamination?

Also, this is the only starter I can make with this yeast. I need the rest of my DME for the brew this upcoming Friday. Will this starter be good enough?

 

[koerd85]

yea

 

[suttonjs2]

"Yea, there'll be contamination" or "Yea, the starter will provide enough yeast"?

 

[Thehopguy]

That sounds like a HUGE starter. Whatcha makin

 

[shawnbou]

Whether you've got contamination is going to depend on the factors in your kitchen, or wherever you made the starter. For example, I have 3 cats and there is fur in the air constantly, so I keep things covered. But if your workspace was clean and you didn't see anything floating in your starter wort when you transferred it to the flask, you're probably okay. Take a sniff of the starter, though: if it smells like blue cheese, you may have a problem.

As for your other question, 3 quarts is a pretty big starter for most beers. What's your planned OG?

 

[suttonjs2]

Planned OG is 1.068

 

[suttonjs2]

It's a organic clone of Pike Brewing's Tandem Ale. I got the recipe from Pike's head brewer.