Yeaster starter not doing anything

[urg8rb8]

24 hours is not a long time, it may easily take 48 hours before enough cells are formed to give a significant lighter appearance. I've seen that many times. Yeast count can double every 90-120 minutes under optimal conditions, a stir plate or shaker at room temps and some nutrients (DAP/Urea/Magnesium/Zinc, etc.) help toward that goal.

It's important that yeast and wort are within 10°F of each other when pitching it. Within 5°F is even better. It prevents yeast shock and little mutants from forming.

Aren't you using a yeast calculator like HomebrewDad's to estimate the cell count to pitch?

The slurry from a 2 liter starter contains about the appropriate amount of cells. 1.5-1.8 liter starters can be fine too.

If you "overbuild" your starters somewhat (making it a bit larger than you need) you can save some out to make a starter from for next time, and so on. But definitely not half, maybe 100-200 ml worth. I put that extra in one or two 8 oz (~240 ml) mason/jelly jars. Or pour some of the crashed slurry into a 4 oz jelly jar and add a few ounces of the saved supernatant to it for storage. 50-100 billion cells saved out will make a perfect starter for next time, even 3-6 months later.

Another thing. I no longer see bubbles going up the walls of the flask. Does this mean fermentation is done? Should I stop the stir plate?

 

[IslandLizard]

So I have a little over two liters for a starter. What I was planning to do was cold crash it then dump out enough beer to leave 32oz of beer in the flask. Then mix it all up to resuspend the yeast and pour 16oz of it into a pint jar to save for later and then pour the other 16 oz into the wort for fermentation.

You're suggesting to split this starter into three? I'm sure I'm misunderstanding you.

Sorry, I wasn't clear enough.
Most likely you'll need more than half of your starter for that beer, it needs a yeast pitch of around 200 billion cells.

The yeast expires in Feb.

Production date is 6 months before "expiration" date, say August 18.

Yeast starter estimate from Homebrew Dad's yeast calculator:

Your starter will have around 300 billion cells when all is done, not counting the unknown amount that flew the coup.
So you can save out 1/3 (~100 billion) and pitch 2/3 (~200 billion).

Process:

• Take the crashed starter out of the fridge when you start your brew day
• Decant most of the starter beer off the top, leaving enough behind to swirl into a pourable slurry (8-16 oz)
• I prefer to leave only 8-16 oz of starter beer to swirl up the slurry
• Make sure all the sticky cake on the bottom is in suspension
• Pour 1/3 into your (small) sanitized jar for next time, and put a label on it:
  • WLP400 St.1. 12/19/18 100b
  • St.1 = Starter #1; Harvest/Ranch date; 100b = ~100 billion cells (est.)
• Lid, and put back into fridge
• Cover the flask with the foil and let come to room temps while you brew
• ... brew your beer ...
• Oxygenate wort right before you pitch or right after
• Swirl the yeast up again before you pitch, being within 10°F (or 5°F) of the wort temp

 

[urg8rb8]

Sorry, I wasn't clear enough.
Most likely you'll need more than half of your starter for that beer, it needs a yeast pitch of around 200 billion cells.

Production date is 6 months before "expiration" date, say August 18.

Yeast starter estimate from Homebrew Dad's yeast calculator:

View attachment 603119

Your starter will have around 300 billion cells when all is done, not counting the unknown amount that flew the coup.
So you can save out 1/3 (~100 billion) and pitch 2/3 (~200 billion).

Process:

• Take the crashed starter out of the fridge when you start your brew day
• Decant most of the starter beer off the top, leaving enough behind to swirl into a pourable slurry (8-16 oz)
• I prefer to leave only 8-16 oz of starter beer to swirl up the slurry
• Make sure all the sticky cake on the bottom is in suspension
• Pour 1/3 in your (small) sanitized jar for next time, and put a label on it:
  • WLP400 St.1. 12/19/18 100b
    • St.1 = Starter #1; Harvest/Ranch date; 100b = ~100 billion cells (est.)
• Lid, and put back into fridge
• Cover the flask with the foil and let come to room temps while you brew
• ... brew your beer ...
• Oxygenate wort right before you pitch or right after
• Swirl the yeast up again before you pitch, being within 10°F (or 5°F) of the wort temp

You are awesome!!! Thank you very much for all of this detail!!!