WLP029 - Starter slow?

[chrislehr]

I did a cup of LME into a 2 pint boil for 10 minutes. Cooled in an ice bath to 70, and put in a sterilized 1 gallon glass jug (aerated/swirled/shook)

OG was about 1.043 on the starter.

It's been 23 hours, and there was a yeast cake on the bottom, and some real early/light bubbles on the surface, but not much more. I expected a more vibrant start as I am pitching this into a 1.1 on Saturday, and I am slightly concerned now.

What to do?

 

[Beer_Guy]

Hydro test maybe?

Taste test maybe?

Wait 72 maybe and test again?

 

[Beer_Guy]

Oh and also ask SWMBO. She knows EVERYTHING. Or so she tells me.

 

[winvarin]

I would say keep in a warmish spot, swirl when you think about it, and keep your brew plans. My last white labs yeast (320, American hefe) was sluggish to get going in a starter like that. I made a 1.3 l starter on a Tuesday after work (yeast best by date was in October 2010). I used Jamil's 10 ml to 1 g ratio of water to dried extract; boiled, cooled and even used my O2 bottle and a stir plate. Everything should have gone well for a rapidly krausening starter.

But I came home Thursday night after work and ... nothing. No krausen. No yeast sediment. And worse ... when I took a whiff of the starter, it smelled like straight malt. no yeast. No alcohol.

In my frustration, I shook the hell out of it and put it back on the stir plate in a slightly warmer part of the house. I woke up Friday morning to a half inch of foam on top of the starter.

I wound up pushing my brew day back to Sunday (since it was a wheat yeast and I wanted the extra time to grow it before I cold crashed). But all was well and I had full ferment in my beer inside of 6 hours on Sunday night.

Just keep with it. Sometimes you get a sluggish colony. As long as you kept it in good condition throughout, chances are your starter will be fine. Just remember ... our tiny friends take a look at our best efforts to get them to bend to our will, then just laugh and do what they're going to do anyway.

 

[chrislehr]

OK, I reshook it up - smells of yeast and malt still, and after a good shake, there was a healthy pfffft when I broke the cap's seal again.

Its at 74F or so right now and has been 36 hours. I have about 24 hours til brew day - still a tad nervous. I guess worst case, I pitch what I have then, and re-pitch a fresh vial a day or two later if I don't see anything.

 

[Beer_Guy]

... when I broke the cap's seal again.
...

You have it SEALED?

 

[OsbornBrewing]

Yeahnwas gonna say the same thing. Take off the seal and cover with foil, you want the Oxygen exchange in your starter to get the yeast going.

 

[chrislehr]

You have it SEALED?

No, its open for air to escape, but I wasnt shaking it with an open cap!

 

[chrislehr]

OK, so...

I fridged when I started brewing, decanted, pitches, and under an hour later, my airlock was bubbling like a congo drum at burning man.

Not sure if linking a facebook vid will work here:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/video/video.php?v=469585366281&ref=mf

Guess I either completely missed the krausen, or there never was one. The other people brewing with me that day agreed it looked like more than 1 vial's volume of yeast in the starter though, so I pitched confidentally...

And it's going completely apesh!t over there. Had to turn the TV louder to hear over the bubblers.

Woke up this morning to see my second batch from yesterday overflowed the airlock, even!

 

[Revvy]

WHat do you want from your starters, fireworks???

Just like in the fermenter, starter fermentation isn't always dynamic...It doesn't matter one blip in your fermenter or your starter flask if the airlock bubbles or not (if you are using an airlock and not tinfoil,) or if you see a krauzen. In fact starter fermentation are some of the fastest or slowest but most importantly, the most boring fermentations out there. Usually it's done withing a few hours of yeast pitch...usually overnight when we are sleeping, and the starter looks like nothing ever happened...except for the little band at the bottom. Or it can take awhile...but either way there's often no "activity" whatsoever....

I usually run my stirplate for the first 24 hours, then shut it down, if you are spinning your starter it is really hard to get a krausen to form anyway, since it's all spinning, and there's often a head of foam on it from the movement.


All that really matters is that creamy band o yeast at the bottom.

This is a chilled sample so it's flocculated, but even with an unchilled sample you should see a band of yeast at the bottom. Here's an unchilled version

Same thing, a band.

As it is I've only ever seen two or three krausens actually on my starter (one blew off a bunch of krausen and knocked the tinfoil off the flask,) and the evidence of one on the flask at the "waterline" once. But I've never not had a starter take off.

Look for the yeast at the bottom, don't worry what it looks like on top. It's only been a day anyway.

You SAID you had yeast on the bottom....that's all you really need.

 

[ghpeel]

Yup revy's right as usual. This used to freak me out too. I'd expect foam or a bubbling airlock (shouldn't even have used an airlock though) and get nothing from my starters. Except for a WLP530 starter that I stepped up twice. That was a 1 quart starter that nearly blew out of the gallon jug!

 

[chrislehr]