Urgent: Should I pitch my starter

[asterix404]

I have been doing this for a long time but this is the first time I made a starter and it didn't krausen. I have it running on a stir plate and the ambient temp was about 85 degrees in the day and about 70 at night which shouldn't have killed anything. The starter is milky like yeast but the yeast all seems to settle out to the bottom and nothing has developed on top, I mean nothing even after turning it off for a full day. It sort of smells vinous but I am not sure if it's suppose to.

I am using the wyeast 3068: Weihenstephan Weizen

If this is kicking off esters right now I am not worried but I don't want it to be infected. The last time I made a starter with this the same thing happened but the beer turned out to be very vinous and not like a heff at all.

I am hoping to brew beer tomorrow but if the over all response is "don't pitch it" I will have to toss the starter and yeast and not brew tomorrow.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

3068 is not a good attenuator which is why hefeweizens are cloudy beers so it sounds ok except for the smell. Not really sure why it would smell vinous. Maybe you are smelling the clove or there is some sulfur being off-gassed.

 

[ardyexfor]

I have had starters that overflowed krausen all over my counter (usually after a step up) and others that showed none... All have taken off with vigorous fermentation w/in 24 hours. Alot of times starters on a stirplate just dont show signs of fermentation....

 

[duboman]

3068 is not a good attenuator which is why hefeweizens are cloudy beers so it sounds ok except for the smell. Not really sure why it would smell vinous. Maybe you are smelling the clove or there is some sulfur being off-gassed.

I believe you meant flocculator as in the yeasts ability to drop completely or not.

If it looks milky it is fermenting out and may or may not show a lot of krausen but something should be noticeable as a slight ring prior to it brewing done.

Has it been going for 12 hours or more? It may take that long or more to fully ferment.

 

[asterix404]

I have had it going for about 3 days on and off the stir plate. It was an accident that it went that long but I would have expected to see something. I pitched when the wort was cool and the bag was partially inflated (despite smacking the pack the nutrient never broke so it never inflated that much). I was really surprised as this strain is very flocculant and shouldn't ever drop out of suspension but after waiting even 5 min or less I see it clearing from the top and after an hour it's like it was never in there in the first place except for the yeast cake on the bottom.

 

[duboman]

I have had it going for about 3 days on and off the stir plate. It was an accident that it went that long but I would have expected to see something. I pitched when the wort was cool and the bag was partially inflated (despite smacking the pack the nutrient never broke so it never inflated that much). I was really surprised as this strain is very flocculant and shouldn't ever drop out of suspension but after waiting even 5 min or less I see it clearing from the top and after an hour it's like it was never in there in the first place except for the yeast cake on the bottom.

If it cleared from the top and there is a nice sized yeast cake on the bottom then it is done and has already fermented out. Sometimes fermentation happens so fast it is barely evident except for the larger yeast cake on the bottom. This has happened to me as well with a stir plate.

How did you make your starter, if it was kind of weak it may have gone faster. It is to be made in a 10-1 ratio, in other words a 1L starter should have 100Grams of DME to 1L of wort or 200G of DME to 2L. If you measure your DME by the cup you might have been light, It is most accurate to weigh and if you do you will get a 1.040 Wort every time!

 

[asterix404]

For this I did 3c water to 3/4c DME and ended up with about 800ml in the flask. I followed the same guides as I always do. I smelled it again and it smells less vinous so I guess I will be brewing today and I will make notes about the pitching. Hopefully this batch isn't infected.

Thanks so much!

 

[duboman]

For this I did 3c water to 3/4c DME and ended up with about 800ml in the flask. I followed the same guides as I always do. I smelled it again and it smells less vinous so I guess I will be brewing today and I will make notes about the pitching. Hopefully this batch isn't infected.

Thanks so much!

For the future, for example: weigh out 100 grams of DME and put in flask, then add water to the 1L Mark and add 1/4 tsp of yeast nutrient, agitate to mix and then boil for 10-15 minutes, cool and pitch yeast pack and place on stir plate this will give you a 1.040 wort, or for a 2L just use 200g and fill to 2L.

Hope this helps!

 

[ICWiener]

Good luck with your brew. I'm sure it will turn out fine.

For what it's worth, I can tell you that different yeast strains can have some "unique" smells. I made a starter a while back with some Wyeast 3724 and I'm not kidding, it smelled like hot garbage. It was awful. I pitched it anyway, and the beer turned out fantastic. Ever since then, I couldn't care less how my starters smell. That may not be the best way to approach it, but hey, what's the saying? RDWHAHB...

 

[beeber]

I would taste it. That way you're sure.

 

[asterix404]

The starter still has all of those intermittent products in it though, how would I know what I am suppose to be tasting? I have never thought about tasting a starter, what should it taste like?

 

[duboman]

The starter still has all of those intermittent products in it though, how would I know what I am suppose to be tasting? I have never thought about tasting a starter, what should it taste like?

Un hopped bland beer, not the greatest but it is beer. If it tastes sour or putrid and has a weird color don't use it

 

[beeber]

It's not what you taste, it's what you don't taste. You don't want to taste any sour or funky flavors. If it's clean then it's good to go.

 

[asterix404]

I ended up tossing the starter. It smelled sort of vile and tasted sort of vile so I really didn't want to use it. Thanks all! I actually went the LHBS and they gave me a new smack pack. This one actually expanded very quickly and the starter looks like it will be great. Fingers crossed. I suppose this why you make a starter huh... better to spend 8$ then to spend 40.