Yeast starter in the fridge

[prjectmayhem]

I want to try cold crashing my yeast starter but I will be out of town until the night right before brew day, so I won't have enough time to do this as John Palmer describes. Instead, here is my plan. Can anyone tell me if this process looks ok or how you would adjust it?

Make a 1.6L yeast starter using DME (OG~1.038) and Wyeast 1038 (London Ale III) and 1/4tsp of nutrient. Stir on stir-plate for 36 hours before putting it into the refrigerator for 4 days. Remove starter from the fridge on the morning of brew day and decant cold beer off of the yeast cake. Let yeast cake raise to RT during the ~6 hours of brewing and then pitch the slurry.

Does this look OK? Also, should I activate the Smack-pack here before adding it to the starter or just warm to RT and add to the flask? Thanks!

 

[day_trippr]

- I think your plan is just fine.
- I always smack the pack a few hours before building the starter so it's warmed up to RT in time to pitch.
- You could shorten the stir plate run to 24 hours or even less if it helps with your schedule.

I've actually never had a stir plate starter take more than 18 hours to reach terminal gravity, though I suppose I should mention I kick mine off with a healthy dose of straight O2...

Cheers!

 

[kh54s10]

I only run my starters for about 18 hours, chill overnight, then it is usually late afternoon when I decant and pitch. After you decant the beer off the yeast it should only take 15 -30 minutes to come to room temperature. Though, if covered 6 hours would not hurt anything. Given the 4 days in the fridge, I would slightly overbuild my starter to account for a small loss of viability. Maybe you have already accounted for that.

 

[prjectmayhem]

That's a good point. I'll make the starter a little bigger than beersmith predicts. Thanks!

 

[boombrewer]

That's a good point. I'll make the starter a little bigger than beersmith predicts. Thanks!

I routinely do what you've described and always have good success with my primaries so I'd say you're fine. As for going over a little on the starter, it's definitely a good idea for extended storage. I once stored a starter in a mason jar after I chilled and decanted for 2 weeks and it still pitched fine. Obviously lost a little viability but still clearly better than direct pitch.

 

[boombrewer]

I routinely do what you've described and always have good success with my primaries so I'd say you're fine. As for going over a little on the starter, it's definitely a good idea for extended storage. I once stored a starter in a mason jar after I chilled and decanted for 2 weeks and it still pitched fine. Obviously lost a little viability but still clearly better than direct pitch.