Yeast Starter For A Saison

[brewinginct]

Sithdad -
I took your (and others) advice. After leaving the starter alone for a couple of days at room temp the yeast had started to settle to the bottom and the top inch or so of wort was clear, so I decanted that clear stuff wort off and added fresh wort that was 1 quart water/ 1 cup DME extract.

It's 11:30am on Friday now so based off of what you said, when should I stick this in the fridge to decant? Should I stick it in at midnight tonight, or wait until tomorrow, Saturday morning? You said 12-18 hours after adding fresh wort and I'm sure anywhere in that time range will be fine but what can I say, I really want this to work.

One other thing. I've learned that making beer is a very forgiving process, you can do some pretty stupid things and the beer won't contaminate.

That being said, after I added the fresh wort to the starter I realized that I really had to shake the starter up instead of just swirl it. I didn't have the growler cap handy so I took the plastic cap from the airlock (with the holes on top), and it capped perfectly on top of the growler

...then I put my hand over the top of that cap and shook it upside down for a couple of minutes. Meaning some of the wort leaked out of the holes in the plastic air lock cap, came in contact with my hand, and then went back in the starter.

Did I just contaminate my starter? I sanitized the plastic cap in iodophor before using it and my hand had some iodophor on it too. Based on past experience I'm guessing it'll be fine, but I still have that sinking feeling that I ruined what's been a week long process so far. What's the verdict?

 

[PorterIV]

Wow. I just came into this thread and there are lots of questions/answers. All of it is very useful. My recent experience may help put you at ease.

I just brewed a saison with 565 and it is one of the best beers I have made. So, don't fear the yeast - it is good stuff. Also, while it is ideal to get the final gravity down in the 1.005 range mine stopped at 1.012 and stayed there for weeks. Still it is very, very good. Next time I may drop some Wyest 3711 in 10 days or so into it to dry it out.

Also, my fermendation fridge was lagering a pilsner so I had to just put this in the linen closet which was in the 80 degree range. The yeast did great - it sounds like that is about the temp you have as well.

I did do a 1L yeast starter with 100 gms of DME. I prepared the starter on Fri night and pitched it Sat afternoon at high krausen (whole thing). Very easy and effective. I normally use plastic wrap with a rubber band around it for a top. Seems to work better for me than aluminum foil and let's CO2 out and some air in.

Oh, and the fact that it touched your hand would freak me out too but it is likely fine. The yeast have already taken hold and made the alcohol so it is not as friendly an environment as if you were just pitching.

Good luck.

 

[PorterIV]

One question. When did you put in the fresh wort? If you did it this morning I would just pitch the whole 1L tomorrow and not worry about decanting.

 

[brewinginct]

PorterIV - Awesome, someone who just used the same yeast! I'm glad to hear that you appreciate this thread, I'm definitely planning on doing a write up of this whole process with pictures so that I can sublimate some of the unnecessary questions/fears that I had.

Great to hear you had success with a similar temperature range. I still have no idea how to accurately gauge fermentation temp based off of room temp - any suggestions?

I get really thrown off by fermentation temps because I cheated on homebrewtalk and looked on another forum and people are HARDCORE about this yeast. Crazy 4 week fermentation schedules with a gradual increase from an initial 65F fermentation to 90+. Is any of that really necessary? According to your results and other people's apparently not, but then why does everyone seem to be so anal about this yeast?

I did my starter at the room temp range of about 70-90 so unless someone suggests otherwise, that's the fermentation temperature

Here's the deal with the most recent addition: I threw it in today at approximately noon. 7 hours later and the airlock is bubbling once per second. I have to help friends move tomorrow so realistically, I won't start brewing this until Sunday sometime between late morning/early afternoon.

What's the best plan of action from here on out? Based on Sithdad's advice I was planning on refrigerating tomorrow around noon, letting the yeast flocculate until Sunday morning, decant as per his suggestions, and then just pitching when brew is ready, probably around early/mid afternoon?

Does that sound like the best way to go? Do I have to add fresh wort to the starter before pitching? Thanks for everyone's help!!!

 

[brewinginct]

So I'm planning on brewing a little over 24 hours from now. There's still a krausen on the starter, it's fermenting, so my question is should I put it in the fridge now? Is it ok to put it in the fridge when theres still a krausen/airlock activity? What's the best way to go from here? Thanks

 

[brewinginct]

So it's about 6:30pm Saturday now and I'm planning tomorrow around noon. The Krausen isn't as intense in the starter as it was earlier today, should I stick it in the fridge now and pull it out tomorrow morning?

AND do I have to add fresh wort to the starter before I pitch it to get some activity going, or just let it get to room temp and throw it in??

 

[brewinginct]

Well here's an update. I threw the starter in the fridge early evening last night and today it's definitely settling out really well.

I was going to brew...now, but things came up and I have to push off brewing until tomorrow.

My new question: Can I leave the starter in a fridge for two days and then when I'm ready to brew just take it out, decant, and then let it warm and pitch it?

OR do I need to add fresh wort to the starter to wake up the yeast after I take the starter out of the fridge because it has been sitting around for so long?

 

[jmo88]

Well here's an update. I threw the starter in the fridge early evening last night and today it's definitely settling out really well.

I was going to brew...now, but things came up and I have to push off brewing until tomorrow.

My new question: Can I leave the starter in a fridge for two days and then when I'm ready to brew just take it out, decant, and then let it warm and pitch it?

OR do I need to add fresh wort to the starter to wake up the yeast after I take the starter out of the fridge because it has been sitting around for so long?

Leave it in the fridge until you are ready to pitch it in the wort. Decant the cold starter beer and leave just enough liquid to be able to swirl and pour it out into your primary. There is no reason to warm it up or step it up at this point.

 

[PorterIV]

brewinginct, sorry to leave you in the lurch there over the weekend. I agree with JMO88, keep it in the fridge and then pour out most of the starter just leaving enough to swirl up the yeast cake. I would probably let it all get to room temperature so as to avoid shocking the yeast when you pitch - but I wouldn't lose sleep about it either.

 

[brewinginct]

Thanks to everyone who helped out, everything went great with the starter.

I took the starter out of the fridge right before I started brewing, sanitized the mouth of the growler that the starter was in and slowly poured out the wort until there was a little less than an inch of liquid left so that I could shake up and suspend the yeast. When I started decanting I poured the clear wort from the top of the starter into a cup and gave it a taste; if that's any indication of what this white labs saison yeast (WLP565) can do then I'm in for an awesome beer. Or maybe wort from a starter all tastes the same, either way surprisingly good.

I pitched the yeast after the wort was chilled to 70f and aerated, the yeast was at room temperature by that point. There wasn't any real activity for the first four hours...then I checked 7 hours after I pitched the yeast and the thing was going nuts. I've never had such a crazy fermentation, the krausen built up really quick, the temperature rose, and I could see the wort moving around really fast, pelting hop pellet particles against the walls of the carboy.

It's 2 days later and fermentation has mellowed out. I'm getting bubbles through the blow off ever 10 seconds or so and I'm about to throw an airlock on it. I can't imagine brewing without a starter anytime soon, it's easy and got things off to a speedy vigorous start. Thanks again.