Yeast Starter Question

[JCasey1992]

Hi all,

I am currently attempting my first yeast starter. I went through all the usual steps and pitched wyeast 3787 into the flask. Approximately 12 hours later, I realized that I did not put water in the airlock. From there, I filled the airlock with water and now approximately 18 hours after I first put the starter on the stir plate, the airlock is still not bubbling. The top layer of the starter appears to be bubbling but I don't know if that is just a product of it being on the stir plate.

Should I be concerned or should I just pitch the starter when the main batch is ready. Is there a way to make sure that the starter is actually fermenting?

Worst case scenario, I'm not brewing till Tuesday so I can always pick up a new yeast at my local shop.

Thanks for your input,
Casey

 

[jekeane]

yeast starters often don't show krausen especially when on a stir plate. You also don't want an airlock on a starter as they are designed to keep air out and the point of a stir plate is aerating the wort. Just sanitize a piece of tinfoil and wrap it over the mouth of the flask.

 

[phendog]

I think you should be ok. Don't get wrapped around the axle about the lack of air lock activity on a starter. Ideally you want a slightly loose wrap of sanitized tin foil over the top of the flask

Does you solution look "milky"? If so, the yeast are propagating. If started tonight, I would let it go on the stir plate until tomorrow evening, cold crash and decant just before pitching.

 

[day_trippr]

A fresh pack of 3787 in a stir plate starter would be done in 12 hours...

Cheers!

 

[JCasey1992]

Thank you all for putting up with a newbie brewer such as myself lol. It does look milky so it appears to be propagating. It's currently sitting on the stir plate with a piece of foil over top of the flask. I do have a couple questions though.

1) Instead of decanting, can I just pitch the entire solution into the main batch?
2) Can somebody explain cold crashing to me? I know my youth is showing but I've only been brewing for a little under a year so I'm less familiar with much of the lingo.

Thanks,
Casey

 

[bschot]

According to an article on Brulosophy one can pitch the entire starter as long as it is less than 5% of the batch volume. In the exbeeriment tasters could not tell the difference between a beer that had a decanted starter and one that wasn't. Here is the article if you are interested: http://brulosophy.com/2016/10/10/decanted-vs-full-yeast-starter-exbeeriment-results/

 

[JCasey1992]

On a side note, would it be necessary to use the two step propagation method found at the end of the video below? I am brewing a Belgian dubbel with a target OG of 1.079.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEQBPeHfXD0&t=455s[/ame]

 

[TooDogly]

Likely a single step is enough unless you are making a 10 gal batch. You also probably don't need to decant unless you want to. I only decant mine when I'm making a style, such as IPA, that would be "diluted" by the un-hopped starter wort.