Yeast Starter (Lager)

[Psywar]

Good afternoon everyone!

So I made my first starter yesterday.
I think I made some mistakes and I was hoping someone could give me some insight on if they think I might need to just get another packet of yeast and pitch it into my brew.

I have been trying to get my Dad to brew with me so I asked him what he wanted to drink. He told me he really likes Dos Equis so we came up with a clone for it.

I added all the stuff to BeerSmith 2 and it ended up telling me I needed about 408 billion yeast. So I decided to build a starter. I watched a ton of videos and they all did the same thing.

BeerSmith told me I would need to make a 2.19L wort with 12.14oz of DME.

I had a 2L flask and I got a stirplate. I made about 2liters and 5oz of wort and I added the proper DME.

I didn't realize that when you make a wort this big you need to spend a couple days making it. Someone told me that I needed to make a 1L and then after 24 hours make another 1L of wort and dump it into the already feeding yeast. Then wait another 24 hours before pitching.

Not realizing this I just went ahead and made it all at once.

It has been 15 or so hours and everything seems to be fine. It is very foamy. I had an airlock on it and last night while sleeping it foamed up into the airlock.

When I woke up I removed the airlock and added tinfoil over the top instead.

I later noticed it started foaming back up and leaking over the sides.

I pulled out a growler and sanitized it. Made another 1 cup of wort added a little bit of yeast nutrient dumped it in the growler and then I poured about half a cup to a cup of my yeast starter into the new growler to keep my current starter from overflowing.

I have been grabbing the growler whenever I walk out in the kitchen and giving it a swirl.

My question is: How bad have I messed up?
Should I try and get another packet of yeast for this beer I am brewing in about 9 hours?

The OG starter seems to still be foaming it is not getting as foamy as it was prior to me pouring some of it out.
The growler is just kind of foamy, but it might be just from my swirling.

Thanks for any input and thoughts.

-Chuck

 

[giraffe]

Sounds like you are fine. The only concern is if you were un-sanitary in the transfer to the growler, or of it brew off the cover for a long time when overflowing. But as its pretty active id think youd be fine.

 

[Psywar]

Thank you for the reply!
I am pretty sure everything is sanitary. I put the growler in my 1-gallon bucket of sanitizer and filled it up a bunch of times.
The aluminum I used for the lids I also put in the solution as well.

The stirplate one still looks pretty active foamy top, not as much as before. The one in the growler I am doing by hand is slightly foamy. I dunno if that is just from me swirling it around.

Fingers crossed!

 

[Psywar]

Well, I made my brew yesterday night.
Pitched my starter around 9 PM and as of right now the beer is fermenting away!
Woohoo!

 

[catdaddy66]

Sounds like your fine. I think the most common mistakes with starters are poor sanitation and an undersized vessel. If you need a 1.5-1.75L starter then use a bigger vessel than one that's 2L!

I use a one gal cider jug for my starters and haven't had any issues. Most of my starters are 2L or less.