Starter Help

[Gazmond]

Hello,

I usually lurk but I need help and possibly someone to help me stop panicing :)

I've never harvested yeast or made a starter before so throwing myself in at the deep end a bit.

I harvested some yeast from the slurry from last batch of beer and had it mason jars in the fridge, the yeast was a wyeast english ale smack pack. On Thursday night I made a 1 litre starter decanted the top off the mason jar swirled it around and pitched into the starter. Starter was swirled around until friday night. On saturday morning the starter had a smallish krausen on it and looked to be fermenting.

This morning i put the starter in the fridge to try and clear it. I guess I'm just wondering if it'll be ok to pitch, I'm about to make quite a big beer with a lot of hops and I'd rather not throw a load of money down the drain due to using bad yeast, I have some dried yeast I bought as an insurance policy just incase :)

Pictures:

Here's the starter in the fridge:



Starter in the hand:



Sample from mason jar:

 

[brumbrew]

Pour that wort off, make a bit more and add it back in. Just to step it up another gear. Mine looks like this at the moment.

 

[Gazmond]

Aaaah nice stir plate and thanks for the reply :) I forgot to mention that I wanted to pitch it today and wasn't sure if pitching it up would work over the time I had so I used my insurance policy (a packet of dried yeast I rehydrated).

For future reference I take it's a good idea to replace the wort? How long should i leave it before pitching the original starter and replacing with fresh wort?

 

[brumbrew]

If you have a stir plate, the time is less. As the yeast is always in suspension. I believe. I made simple dme wort last night and planned to pitch it about now. But I haven't got the chiller coil to hand. So I took it off the plate, let it settle.

Pinched some wort from this brew that's cooling. Poured of the wort remaining in jar, wasn't much. Poured the yeast and left any **** that made it through the washing. then added the brews wort chilled of course to 25 ℃ and popped it back on stir plate. Will pitch later tonight or first thing in the morning.

 

[TartanSpecial]

Hello,



This morning i put the starter in the fridge to try and clear it.

I it were me and I was brewing 23ltrs, I wouldn't put the starter in the fridge to separate. I'd just pitch the whole lot (only a litre) at room temp to avoid any temperature shocks. Others may disagree....just how I do it. (If its a flocculant yeast then I'd decant the spent starter wort).

 

[Covrich]

I agree yeast should always be pitched at roughly the same temp.. Even when making a starter make sure the vial is out of the fridge well in advanced to come up to room temp..

 

[Gazmond]

Great thanks for the advice much appreciated! So next time (probably this coming weekend as I have a couple of days off) I'll make a starter, step it up a a couple of days later and then pitch that little lot minus putting it in the fridge. Feel a bit more confident doing this now :)

 

[Covrich]

Great thanks for the advice much appreciated! So next time (probably this coming weekend as I have a couple of days off) I'll make a starter, step it up a a couple of days later and then pitch that little lot minus putting it in the fridge. Feel a bit more confident doing this now :)

If your going to use it within a few days / weeks you can harvest it and keep it in the fridge and then just make a starter a few days before your main brew