Yeast starter cold crash question/when

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earwig

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I created a 2L starter On Wednesday night. I want to brew tomorrow, Saturday. Today when I left work at 7:30am the starter was still churning and producing lots of krausen; bubbling up through the airlock. I planned on cold crashing the starter tonight before bed and decanting tomorrow afternoon to pitch.

Is it OK to cold crash the stater if it hasn't finished fermenting out?

Thanks.
 
It sort of defeats the purpose of a starter by cutting yeast production prematurely, but it's not necessarily harmful beyond that. I typically wouldn't crash a starter less than 24h before brewing, though.
 
Why the heck is this still going? I read so many places that making it on a Wednesday for a Saturday brew was acceptable! Ugh.

So, do you think cold crashing 20 hours before pitching is acceptable... or still not enough time?

Thanks again.
 
Why the heck is this still going? I read so many places that making it on a Wednesday for a Saturday brew was acceptable! Ugh.

So, do you think cold crashing 20 hours before pitching is acceptable... or still not enough time?

Thanks again.

Unless it is a super-light beer style, I'd let it keep fermenting and then just pitch the whole starter. 20 hours would probably be fine, but some of that depends on the yeast strain.
 
I give my starters 3 days on the stir plate. Is it indicated? Nope. My experience is most of my starters are done within 24 hours but I leave them there any way. I cold crash the starter for two days. I use wyeast at all times and some yeast settle out quicker than others. After two days I let the starter warm to pitching temps, decant, and pitch. Works like a charm for me.
 
Thanks... I used a White Labs vial and this isn't going to be a big beer so I'm sure I'll have enough yeast for the brew... I'm just concerned with giving it enough time to cold crash so when I decant I am not throwing away the good yeast still in suspension. I'd rather not pitch 2 liters of un-hopped beer into this brew so I definitely want to decant. I guess I know for next time... create the starter on Monday or Tuesday for a Saturday brew.

Thanks.
 
It depends on what time tomorrow. Give it until late night and it might have settled.
 
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