How Long Before Starter 'starts'?

[MVZOOM]

All,

Tipped about 10ml of a liquid Pilsner yeast from the vial into a starter (boiled, cooled 1l water and 100g of DME), shook the poo out of the starter before I pitched.

It's been sitting at approx 18 deg for 24 hours and nothings happening... Any clues? Its a murkey mix, can't see any bubbles rising from the bottom, def no head on the top and no signs of any activity.

Is it too hot? Should I put it in my 10deg fermenting fridge?

Cheers - Ike

 

[matti]

Pilsner/lager yeast tend to take 2 days before they krausen.They are bottom fermenters.
If your wort is ready and need to pitch it right now. Eerate the wort. Bestway is to pour it from one fermenter to another or spalsh it really well as you fill it.
liquid yeast need oxygen to get started.
Rule 1 yeast: aerate well for starters, minimize aeration past high Krausen.
MAtti

 

[Voosher]

It's definitely not too cold. To get it started it won't matter if it's actually a bit warmer.
I don't brew lagers that often but I try to keep all starters at around 25C.
When they're active I cool them to wort temp for pitching.
With a litre starter you'll actually want to pitch it at around 20C and then cool the wort to lager fermenting temps over the next 12-24hrs.

 

[pint of lager]

Your starter is not ready. You have pitched a small amount of yeast into a large starter. A bit like adding a twentieth of a pack of yeast to a full fermenter and wondering why it isn't working.

When using small amounts of yeast, make small starters, when they are working, step up to a larger volume.

A suitable step would be add your 2 ml to 100 ml of boiled and cooled wort. When it is working or showing signs of airlock activity and foaming when you shake it, step up to a litre.

 

[MVZOOM]

Yeah, ok - makes sense that the starter is too large for the yeast to handle. This morning I have a wee bit of activity, so it is making progress, if not slowly!

Next time I'll step up..

Cheers - Mike

 

[pint of lager]

Your observation that it was murky means that the yeast is suspended and multiplying. Dead yeast sink.

Yeast never work to your timetable. Always keep a sachet or two of good dried yeast so that you can brew even if the starter isn't ready, or when the opportunity to brew springs up.

 

[razz]

A good rule of thumb is a 10:1 ratio for wort to yeast, don't ask me were I got that from. :blink:

 

[Darren]

Sometimes a good healthy vial of yeast will ferment a litre of starter overnight and you could miss it.

cheers

Darren

 

[pint of lager]

The 1:10 ratio that Razz has mentioned is the stepping up rule.

When making yeast starters, start small. Then, when that is actively fermenting, step up in a ratio of ten. For example, if you have 200ml wort fermenting, step up by 10 to 2 litres.

The final size of your starter should be 5% of the wort volume for ales and 10% for lagers. For a standard 23 litre brew, you want a 1.3 litre starter for an ale and 2.6 litres for a lager.

The other spot that the ratio 1:10 comes in is making up starter wort, which should be sg 1.040, this happens to be 100gms DME to 1000 ml water.

 

[Weizguy]

Yeast never work to your timetable.

To paraphrase here: Yeast may take a while to reach pitchable numbers, so always have a no-chill wort ready-to-go, and pitch the yeast when they are ready.

Everyone is happier when you work to the yeast's schedule. Ask any beer!

Another No-chill unpaid advertisement, on behalf of the free-brewing movement.

Testify! "I enjoy using the No-chill technique", says S. Weizguy on the Aussie- based AHB forum.

Seth out

* edited to insert link *

 

[Darren]

Yeast never work to your timetable.

Testify! "I enjoy using the No-chill technique", says S. Weizguy on the Aussie- based AHB forum.

Seth out

You being a wheat brewer I am sure that No chill suits your flavour profile



BTW, I like a good wheat beer.

cheers

Darren