# Yeast Starter Final Gravity



## dabre4 (14/1/11)

I've been working on my first yeast stater. It's been slowly bubling away at around 23C for 36 hrs. I took a SG reading and its only down to 1.030 from 1.040. What does this mean, should I wait longer (It doesn't seem to be fermenting much any more), should I just use it as is, is my yeast shit?

I used a Wyeast smack pack, and malt extract, sanatised well, not sure whats going on.


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## MeLoveBeer (14/1/11)

Doog said:


> I've been working on my first yeast stater. It's been slowly bubling away at around 23C for 36 hrs. I took a SG reading and its only down to 1.030 from 1.040. What does this mean, should I wait longer (It doesn't seem to be fermenting much any more), should I just use it as is, is my yeast shit?
> 
> I used a Wyeast smack pack, and malt extract, sanatised well, not sure whats going on.



Just remember that you'll still get a lag time when creating a starter (regardless of the yeast used). Did you smack the pack and wait for it to swell before pitching into your starter?


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## dabre4 (14/1/11)

Yep, I smacked the pack. How long to you normally allow a starter to ferment? From what I've read normally no longer the 32 hrs, but I may be wrong. Obviously until its fermented out is the best. I've given it a big swirl, and shit has gone everywhere. I'll let it sit for another 24 hrs and see what happens. Brew day isn't unitl Sun, so not to rushed.


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## MeLoveBeer (14/1/11)

Doog said:


> Yep, I smacked the pack. How long to you normally allow a starter to ferment? From what I've read normally no longer the 32 hrs, but I may be wrong. Obviously until its fermented out is the best. I've given it a big swirl, and shit has gone everywhere. I'll let it sit for another 24 hrs and see what happens. Brew day isn't unitl Sun, so not to rushed.



Different yeasts ferment at different speeds so I think it would be hard to put a blanket rule in place for all scenarios. Personally I start making a starter about a week before I need it (but I crash chill the starter for a couple of days beforehand).

Are you going to be crash chilling and decanting the starter before use? If so, I'd just give it till midday tomorrow and then crash chill it till Sunday morning


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## hazard (14/1/11)

Doog said:


> Yep, I smacked the pack. How long to you normally allow a starter to ferment? .


Yes , but did it swell? And what was the manufacture date on the pack? Older yeast will take longer to become active. Have you been stirring (or shaking) regularly?


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## dabre4 (14/1/11)

MeLoveBeer said:


> Different yeasts ferment at different speeds so I think it would be hard to put a blanket rule in place for all scenarios. Personally I start making a starter about a week before I need it (but I crash chill the starter for a couple of days beforehand).
> 
> Are you going to be crash chilling and decanting the starter before use? If so, I'd just give it till midday tomorrow and then crash chill it till Sunday morning



Yep, going to crash chill. I'll do that, fingers crossed it will ferment out properly by then. I need the yeast count as I am brewing a quite high gravity beer (1.080). Thanks for the advice.


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## dabre4 (14/1/11)

hazard said:


> Yes , but did it swell? And what was the manufacture date on the pack? Older yeast will take longer to become active. Have you been stirring (or shaking) regularly?



Note sure of the date as the pack is in the bin. It would have been in date, I got it from Grain and Grape and their normally pretty on the ball in terms of used by dates. It swelled abnormally quickly, so thats a good sign of healthy yeast. 

I have been trying to swirl it, however whenever I do that a shit load of foam apears and the airlock bubles like mad until there is not water left. These are the joys of doing somthing for the first time. I have sanatised the lid of the container and screwed down tight, swirled the starter, then just cracked the lid a tiny bit so the gas can escape. This seems to work much better, I can swirl quite vigorously and it doesn't make a mess.


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## MeLoveBeer (14/1/11)

Doog said:


> Note sure of the date as the pack is in the bin. It would have been in date, I got it from Grain and Grape and their normally pretty on the ball in terms of used by dates. It swelled abnormally quickly, so thats a good sign of healthy yeast.
> 
> I have been trying to swirl it, however whenever I do that a shit load of foam apears and the airlock bubles like mad until there is not water left. These are the joys of doing somthing for the first time. I have sanatised the lid of the container and screwed down tight, swirled the starter, then just cracked the lid a tiny bit so the gas can escape. This seems to work much better, I can swirl quite vigorously and it doesn't make a mess.



What sort of container are you using for your starter doog? I normally just cover the top with al foil and thats more than adequate...

I remember reading somewhere that using an airlock with a starter is detrimental to yeast growth (because during the first 18 hours, yeast needs quite a bit of oxygen for optimal performance and starving your yeast of oxygen can have long term detrimental effects).


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## dabre4 (14/1/11)

MeLoveBeer said:


> What sort of container are you using for your starter doog? I normally just cover the top with al foil and thats more than adequate...
> 
> I remember reading somewhere that using an airlock with a starter is detrimental to yeast growth (because during the first 18 hours, yeast needs quite a bit of oxygen for optimal performance and starving your yeast of oxygen can have long term detrimental effects).



I'm just using a 3L juice container. Air lock or not, your eventually going to have the air purged out by the CO2 being produced arn't you? Unless your activly allowing air/oxygen to get into the bottle, which in my mind is a big risk for infection. I ensured I oxidised the starter as much as possiable prior to pitching the yeast, so the yeast should have had enough oxygen for the first 18hrs.


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## MeLoveBeer (14/1/11)

Doog said:


> I'm just using a 3L juice container. Air lock or not, your eventually going to have the air purged out by the CO2 being produced arn't you? Unless your activly allowing air/oxygen to get into the bottle, which in my mind is a big risk for infection. I ensured I oxidised the starter as much as possiable prior to pitching the yeast, so the yeast should have had enough oxygen for the first 18hrs.



True (about the air being purged with the production of CO2). The whole aim with the airlock/foil is just to stop airborn wild yeasts dropping into your starter/fermenter (wild yeast will not climb, only drop). I think the reasoning behind not having an airlock was to do with head pressure. The original diagram and discussion I mentioned can be found here.


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## husky (14/1/11)

Recently pitched a full pack 2252 lager that was 6 months old to a 1L starter. Took three days to fire up and finish. CC decant and add to a 2L starter and it fired up within the hour. Most likely poor health of the initial yest used would be my guess. I would leave it a little while longer yet as the gravity should drop to normal finishing gravity I would think.


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## Thirsty Boy (14/1/11)

All that fizizng up means its going nicely - remember, what you are doing is trying to grow yeast, not to ferment wort, you are probably going to get pretty close to your maximum cell count within 24-36 hours from pitching time regardless of what the PG is at the moment. If your yeast was a little unhealty or some of it was dead, that will just give you a lower final cell count. Give it another 12-24 hours if you feel like it, then you might as well bung it in the fridge to settle out because you wont get that many more cells by letting it go for longer.


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