This is my first batch using a yeast starter, and I timed it horribly. It has been going since about 1030am on a vortex stir plate, and originally planned to brew tomorrow but now I can't. If I brew tonight and plan to pitch at around 11pm, would that work? I also have another smack pack of the same yeast I could pitch along with it, or abandon the starter all together... I was pretty excited about the starter though so I hoped to avoid tossing it. Please help! Thanks, and cheers.
“It has been going since about 1030am on a vortex stir plate, and originally planned to brew tomorrow but now I can't. If I brew tonight and plan to pitch at around 11pm, would that work?” Something I recently posted: “If you are using a stir plate to make your starters you should make you starters well in advance since you do not want to add the starter beer (liquid) to the beer; the stir plate action results in oxidized starter beer being produced. When using a stir plate you want a schedule something like below: · 12 – 18 hours of stir plate time (Edit: or 24 hours as detailed in the above post) · Put the starter in the refrigerator to get the yeast to drop out (sediment). This could take 24+ hours to occur · Take the starter vessel out of the refrigerator and permit the starter to get to room (pitching temperature). I am not sure how long this takes. · Decant the room temperature starter beer and only pour the yeast slurry into the primary An additional step you could perform is to add some fresh wort to the yeast slurry to ‘wake up’ the yeast prior to pitching but this step is entirely optional.” An option is for you just to let your starter finish up and store your starter in the refrigerator until you have time to brew. When is your next opportunity to brew? Cheers!
Just curious, where did you get this information from? I've never heard of starter wort becoming 'oxidized'. I've always tossed a descent amount of starter wort into my beer and have never had any oxidation issues. @ OP : let the starter go until tomorrow morning and then refrigerate it until you brew. It should be good for at a minimum a week if not two.
Jamil Zainasheff wrote a good article on Making Starters that was published in Zymurgy magazine. You can download the article at the AHA website. From the article: “Of course, if you have a large starter volume in relation to your batch of beer or a starter that was continuously aerated, then you probably don’t want to pitch the entire starter into your wort. Adding a large starter or a heavily oxidized starter to your wort can alter the flavor of the finished beer.” Cheers!
Ahhh, ok. I usually make 500ml - 1L starters and only pitch in about 25% of the starter wort. I'll check out that article though, thanks.
I refrigerate my starters for a day, then decant off most of the wort. OP: I don't think you have any reason to panic here. I asked a similar question on this thread. Check it out.
From a hipshot I'd say brew tonight and pitch tomorrow. If your beer doesn't have a big OG, I'd pitch tonight. If it does, I'd pitch tomorrow.
