Yeast starter help!!!!

[jtupper]

So here's the deal...

6 Mos ago I froze two batches of yeast off of a primary yeast cake. one was Wyeast 2007 Pilsner, and one was Wyeast 1056 American. Neither of the original beers was high gravity by any means and I went through the proper freezing procedures using glycerin.

Fast Forward to Two days ago...

I made a starter using 1/2 C DME and 2 C H2O to prepare a starter of around 1.040, unfortunately ended up actually being around 1.055 after boiling and cooling. I placed approx 6oz of this starter in two separate clean and sanitized glasses along with both of my thawed out yeast samples. I do not have a stir plate as of yet so I simply stir every once in a while when I walk by. No foaming has occurred, but i know frozen yeast won't show like a 5gal fermentation either. After the first day both samples had grown based on what I see on the bottom, but has thenfore slowed. ( the lager had grown more so) Today I took a gravity reading and found both samples to be around 1.065.

This starts some questions. I have kept the leftover wort to use to increase my starters. but why on earth would the gravity be so high. Was it from the vials of yeast i had. the glycerine shouldn't contain any sugar. And why is the yeast multiplying by sight but not decreasing the relative gravity? I would really like to use both of these Tuesday but as of now I'm a little scared to pitch with what might be a under established starter.

Any thoughts would be great. i know RDWHAHB but I don't want to throw 6 hours of a brew day down the drain because of failed yeast.

(i have a couple of packets of dry just in case the starters don't work)

Thanks in advance



p.s all readings were taken using a refractometer with ATC and calibrated

 

[MalFet]

Glycerine will muck up a refractometer's readings good 'n' plenty. (For what it's worth, it will muck up a hydrometer too). If you have yeast growth, you've got sugar consumption. As with any frozen yeast, you want to step up slowly and go from there.

 

[jtupper]

then ill add more wort tommorow and see where we go. Will it throw off my actuall beer gravities as well? or does it really matter? Im thinking of brewing a coco rasp stout for the SWMBO so ill prob use the dry for it. she will be pissed if it doesn't turn. then just give the lager a shot for the hell. after that ill keep feeding the 1050 and plan something cheap

sound good?

 

[MalFet]

then ill add more wort tommorow and see where we go. Will it throw off my actuall beer gravities as well? or does it really matter? Im thinking of brewing a coco rasp stout for the SWMBO so ill prob use the dry for it. she will be pissed if it doesn't turn. then just give the lager a shot for the hell. after that ill keep feeding the 1050 and plan something cheap

sound good?

It's not throwing off the actual sugar concentrations, it's just throwing off the refractive index of your mixed solution, and thus the value your refractometer spits out. If you decant your wort between steps, or at least before pitching, you'll lose most of the glycerine and be more or less back to normal.