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Yeast starter and fermentation temp

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pahiker6

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I haven't seen this discussed before, so I'll bring it up. How much does the fermentation temperature of a yeast starter matter? I made a starter last night for a Hefeweizen I will be brewing soon. I'm going to ferment the Hefeweizen in a fermentation box I built, but the starter is sitting on a counter in my house. Day time temps can get into the 80's and 90's if the a/c isn't on. Will this be an issue?
 
You want to have the starter around the temp you plan on fermenting ideally. This way you will not stress the yeast too much. With a hot temp, yeast are too active and can cause off flavors thus leading to them in your beer after you pitch.
 
The off flavors would only be in the beer produced in the starter, right? So would I be ok with decanting off the beer, then pitching the slurry into my Hefeweizen?
 
Yeah, you just don't want to stress the yeast with the heat. I'm pretty sure that it will be fine but I keep the starter at the temp I plan on fermenting at. But I would say you will be fine.
 
The off flavors would only be in the beer produced in the starter, right? So would I be ok with decanting off the beer, then pitching the slurry into my Hefeweizen?

Yes, you can do that. There is some minor problem - this way you get rid of the yeast that are still in suspension, the stongest and most valuable part. But there is no good way to walk around this problem. You can put the starter into the fridge for a couple of days, and then decant, but this is additional stress for the yeast.
I usualy do a series of beers, and I pitch all starter to the first batch, but the whole first batch I treat as a big starter.

As for the starter temperature - it is best when you keep it within 10F range with the wort temperature.
 
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