What should a yeast starter look like after 24 hours?

[NewJersey]

I made a yeast starter 24 hours ago and I don't think anything happened.
It was a lil over 1l of water, 3oz of dme, teaspoon of fermaid. Boiled for ten minutes, cooled to a lil below 80⁰f, an poured it into a sanitized 2l flask. Sanitized a stir bar and dropped it in. Last thing was adding a pack of white labs and san Diego super yeast. It was very fresh and purchased from lhbs that has never let me down. It sat at room temp for about an hour before pitching. I sanitized every step with star san. It was on a stir plate the whole time just fast enough to maintain a small whirlpool.
The pic is it today and it looked the same yesterday. Want to use it in a beer I'm brewing tomorrow.

 

[NewJersey]

This is my very first starter so I'm not sure what to expect. I didn't take a gravity reading before and haven't yet. I expected to see more krausen or some sign of fermentation

 

[Spikybits]

what does the bottom look like when its settled for an hour or two? creamy white yeast?

 

[IslandLizard]

It needs more time.
That's exactly what most starters look like the first day, or 2 (sometimes even 3 or 4 days) when pitching yeast from a "fresh" LHBS or mail ordered pack. Be glad you're making a starter, or you'd be posting a different thread Monday or Tuesday.

When it has become milky and significantly lighter in color you're well in the main growth phase. I usually give it 12-24 hrs after that color change takes place (sometimes longer). When a starter like that is successful, a fairly thick layer of white to light-beige yeast (1/8-1/4") will settle out.

What's the "Best By" date on the sleeve?

BTW, making a 2 liter starter from 1 pack of yeast is more common. You'll enjoy the needed growth for a good pitch + save some out for a next starter:
BrewUnited's Yeast Calculator

 

[NewJersey]

It's for a 1.065 porter.
Best by 6/20/21
I did turn it off earlier today for 15 minutes and there was a layer on the bottom

 

[NewJersey]

I work tonight and won't be home til midnight-1am. Should I just put this in the fridge when I get home and pitch it tomorrow?

 

[Gnomebrewer]

It was a lil over 1l of water, 3oz of dme, teaspoon of fermaid.

Fermaid (both K and O) are less toxic than most nutrient blends, but a teaspoon in a litre is still possibly toxic to yeast. I use a heavy dose of Fermaid K - 1/4 to 1/2 tsp in a 4L starter (then none in the main batch of beer). 1tsp in a 1L starter might have killed your yeast.

With a yeast pack that fresh, you'd normally see activity within 24 hours in a 1L starter. If it's on a stir plate though, you don't always see a krausen.

 

[Spikybits]

you can - if you mean by white package - White Labs - and you're doing a 5g batch. 1 pouch would be sufficient without a starter.

generally I use starters to yeast ranch. split and save half under its starter beer and pitch the other half. Then I can use the saved to create another starter and the process continues

 

[NewJersey]

Fermaid (both K and O) are less toxic than most nutrient blends, but a teaspoon in a litre is still possibly toxic to yeast. I use a heavy dose of Fermaid K - 1/4 to 1/2 tsp in a 4L starter (then none in the main batch of beer). 1tsp in a 1L starter might have killed your yeast.

With a yeast pack that fresh, you'd normally see activity within 24 hours in a 1L starter. If it's on a stir plate though, you don't always see a krausen.

I just went back and looked at the directions I went off of and I did in fact use 1/4 teaspoon.

 

[NewJersey]

you can - if you mean by white package - White Labs - and you're doing a 5g batch. 1 pouch would be sufficient without a starter.

generally I use starters to yeast ranch. split and save half under its starter beer and pitch the other half. Then I can use the saved to create another starter and the process continues

I did mean white labs. (I edited the post now)
I'm kinda doing this starter just to do it really. My process for 8 years has always been to just buy more yeast. I've also always relied on my lhbs to mill my grain. In 2020 I bought a grain mill and stuff to make starters. I want to control more and more of the process.

 

[Spikybits]

I did mean white labs. (I edited the post now)
I'm kinda doing this starter just to do it really. My process for 8 years has always been to just buy more yeast. I've also always relied on my lhbs to mill my grain. In 2020 I bought a grain mill and stuff to make starters. I want to control more and more of the process.

then I would recommend letting it go for as long as you can, let it propagate. Theres a great thread on yeast ranching. I store in sanitized quart jars under its own starter beer. My Kveik is on like gen 15 or so. Premium bitter is on gen 6 and i think WLP001 is on 10 or so. Ive had my WLP001 for over 3 years and it rips. I have bought my strains only once now since ranching. have 14 strains in my library

Edit - I make starters just to propagate and refill my library even when I am not brewing. You will also be able to use bottle dregs to pick up yeast. I have SaccTois from a local brewery, Russian Rivers hazy strain and Anchorage Brewing IPA strain ( both these could be another White labs or Wyeast, maybe something I already have, but hey free with my beer?)

 

[Spikybits]

Here is what you will end up with - Two starters on the plates are 2 days old. The two in the fridge are RR and AK and have been settling for less than a week. It takes a bit for them to drop completely clear. My Voss, up front was decanted in Monday so it's still cloudy.



Large jars will be transfered to the small jars and labeled. I have two flasks, but masons work fine too.

Save Money!

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, this was 24 hours into my latest 1318 run, taking ~50ml of stored over-built yeast up to enough to pitch 10 gallons of wort plus another 50ml to stash. That neipa in the picture is pretty close to the OP's starter. That starter needs much more time...

Cheers!

 

[smata67]

That doesn't look good. A viable vial of yeast in a starter at 24 hours should be looking like Demi Moore in 1995, not like Kathy Bates. Hopefully, you have a backup satchet of dry yeast to save the day if you HAVE to brew. I actually make sure my started yeast is doing what I expected to before proceeding to the next step. But always have some dry alternatives in hand in case things don't turn out as planned.

 

[IslandLizard]

I work tonight and won't be home til midnight-1am. Should I just put this in the fridge when I get home and pitch it tomorrow?

Putting it in the fridge won't help it grow. Definitely keep it on the stir plate as long as possible.

Then tomorrow morning, depending on how it progressed, make the decision to brew or hold off.*
If it's become very milky by then (see @day_trippr's picture in #13), the yeast is healthy and the starter is working as it should. Keep stirring while you brew, and pitch the whole thing.

Are you sure the wort had cooled to below 120F?

* If this is WLP001, you could pitch a pouch of US-05 dry yeast, instead of pitching the starter.

 

[V-Fib]

I always start my starters at least 4 days ahead of my planned brew day. We can do small things to manipulate them but they are still on their own schedule. I normally keep them on the stir plate with it running for 12-24 hours, turn it off for another 12-24 then cold crash and pour off the "beer" when I'm ready to pitch. This is what things should look close to after the building and crashing process.

 

[NewJersey]

It looked pretty "milky"
Few minutes ago and I put it in the fridge downstairs.
I will take a pic of how it settles tomorrow morning.
I don't understand what I did wrong.

 

[Jako]

I made a yeast starter 24 hours ago and I don't think anything happened.
It was a lil over 1l of water, 3oz of dme, teaspoon of fermaid. Boiled for ten minutes, cooled to a lil below 80⁰f, an poured it into a sanitized 2l flask. Sanitized a stir bar and dropped it in. Last thing was adding a pack of white labs and san Diego super yeast. It was very fresh and purchased from lhbs that has never let me down. It sat at room temp for about an hour before pitching. I sanitized every step with star san. It was on a stir plate the whole time just fast enough to maintain a small whirlpool.
The pic is it today and it looked the same yesterday. Want to use it in a beer I'm brewing tomorrow.

looks fine to me!

 

[harrower]

I make my starters using 1 Quart of water with 8 oz of DME. 3 oz seems light. Yeast needs some starch to grow.

 

[Toto's]

fwiw, this was 24 hours into my latest 1318 run, taking ~50ml of stored over-built yeast up to enough to pitch 10 gallons of wort plus another 50ml to stash. That neipa in the picture is pretty close to the OP's starter. That starter needs much more time...

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Cheers!

The first thing i asked myself was:
What is he drinking??
Sorry getting out of subject lol
It's a smart thing to do...
Preparing the starter few days before the brew day so we can be sure out yeast is healthy....
I already did a starter only 24 hours before brew day and i got some surprises when i realized my yeast was not there yet. As others said, always prepare a plan B as well if you cannot wait for the yeast to be ready.

 

[zacster]

My last 2 starters both took off within a few hours and it is really obvious. My usual formula is 7oz DME in 2L of water, so 3oz in 1 quart is only a little lighter than that, not enough to make a difference. What was the temp in the room? I usually just do it at room temp after I've cooled the starter wort to 70F and leave the yeast out long enough to warm up. I do my starters 2 days before brew day and it is always plenty of time.

Just from the pic the only thing I could think is that a 1l starter in a 2L flask isn't going to be as obvious because the surface where the krausen collects is so large and thin and easily sucked back in by the whirlpool. I have the same flask and a 2L starter's krausen will overwhelm the whirlpool and sometimes even spill over. But that pic doesn't look right to me.

 

[NewJersey]

Room temp was 70⁰f
Whatever was in the flask was shook around and the whole slurry dumped into the porter.
Wish me luck

 

[IslandLizard]

Whatever was in the flask was shook around and the whole slurry dumped into the porter.

What was the point of putting it in the fridge overnight?

What was approximate height of the precipitated yeast cake on the bottom when removed from fridge?

Did you aerate/oxygenate the wort? How and how long?

 

[NewJersey]

I oxygenated or with pure o2 for 2 minutes.
Height of yeast cake was maybe 1/4"
I pitched it at an OG of 1063 and it's at 1048 right now

 

[NewJersey]

The porter was 1063 OG and is down to 1046 as of right now

 

[NewJersey]

Beer is currently down to 1014 which is what beersmith predicted the FG to be

 

[cmac62]

NJ, it looks like you have beer.

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, I happened to run another 5L starter of 1318 this week and took some pics.

Pitched and oxygenated around 3PM. The foam has high O2 content (and it was almost to the top of the neck when I began) so I use a hard plug to keep the O2 in the flask until it's been absorbed.

O2 foam gone 30 minutes later, foam plug installed.

Kicked around 7PM.

Krausen was almost up to the plug so I hit the flask with two drops of Fermcap, which settled things down immediately.

Next morning, yeast milk

Let it run the full 24 hours, then shut off the stir plate. If it starts clearing it's definitely done...

Stir bar removed and into the fridge 'til probably Monday...

Cheers!

 

[InspectorJon]

I see this guy is keeping an eye on everything

 

[ITV]

I oxygenated or with pure o2 for 2 minutes.
Height of yeast cake was maybe 1/4"
I pitched it at an OG of 1063 and it's at 1048 right now

My recent experience was very similar to yours. The yeast on the stir plate did not look like it was growing. I pitched it anyways and after 24 hours there was no activity. Then I hit it with pure O2 and it took off, kinda like using defibrillation paddles on the yeast.

I wonder if I should have used pure O2 when the starter was in the flask?

 

[day_trippr]

Yup. He's still the boss
My father was the most honest and ethical person I've ever known, and I try to keep that in mind, always...

Cheers!

I see this guy is keeping an eye on everything
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