I Left A Starter For A Week, Do I Have To Start Again?

[ekul]

I successfully did a coopers starter from one stubbie. these were my steps.

1. Make up some wort. 1L of water and 100g ldme
2. Carefully poured one stubbie into a glass.
3. Pitched dregs into ~30ml of wort
4. Brough volume up to ~ 60ml the next day
5. brought volume up to 120ml the next day
6. Brought volume upt o 350ml the next day
7. Brought volume up to 1L the next day.

Ferment temp was a little high (~20-22) so i could smell the sweet sweet aroma of bananas, which i assume means success. I also tied a ballon to the top of the starter so i didn't have to keep opening the cap. I was very paranoid about sanitation.

Anyway, that was about a week ago. All my lovely yeasties have settled to the bottom of my 1.25L soda water bottle to form a creamy 2cm layer.
Tonight i am making up some wort to replace the 'spent' wort to wake them back up again.

i read a topic on here about people being unsure if reusing a coopers yeastcake is a good idea because the yeast mutates quickly.

I'm worried that my yeast is going to be second generation and be bad.

Also the yeasties have been sitting at around 16-20C the whole time (around a week, thought i put it in the fridge but apparently not) as every day since i made it has meant to be "the day", unfortunately my immersion heater hasn't come. I bought a ring burner yday as i really want to get brewing.


Will this reawakened yeast be alright or should i just start again?

I really want to do my first all grain tomorrow but i will wait if i have to. I bought a sixer this arvo just in case i have to start again.

all thoughts appreciated.

 

[raven19]

I'm worried that my yeast is going to be second generation and be bad.

You will be fine, reading your method all reads ok to me.

Dont be concerned over the generation with such a small starter volume imo - just pour off the 'beer' on top and then add more wort - (taste some of the 'beer' to get a feel for if things are ok or not. if its malty in flavour you should be ok).

 

[Wolfy]

If it had been stored in the fridge for a week I'd say it would be fine, without a question.
However, since you stored it at ambient temp, most likely the yeast will not be in the best shape, but it may well still be fine.

Unless your beer-wort will be virtually identical as the new-stater there is no real benefit in 'waking up' the yeast you have saved (if it had been stored correctly in the fridge), and you may be better pitching it directly, however that step probably will not hurt since your yeast was not refrigerated.

In terms of generation, in theory, your yeast is most likely at least 4-20 generations old (it will reproduce a new generation or few each time you step the starter up), what most people refer to as generation-mutation is once the yeast has been used to ferment a full batch of beer - so it's most likely not going to be a problem for you.

 

[ekul]

Oh sweet. I had decided in the last few minutes that if it was gong to be a 50/50 shot then i'd do an extract brew tomorrow. Can't wait to get into ag!!

Also, i got this giant (i think it may be 80L) stainless pot from a homebrewer at a garage sale last weekend. Can i make a brew, start fermenting, make another brew, chill and thro it on top. And then throw another one top of that?
So it would be a triple batch, slowly added over 2-3 days.
I do like the experience of brewing but if i can megs batches that would be awesome!

 

[Screwtop]

I successfully did a coopers starter from one stubbie. these were my steps.

1. Make up some wort. 1L of water and 100g ldme
2. Carefully poured one stubbie into a glass.
3. Pitched dregs into ~30ml of wort
4. Brough volume up to ~ 60ml the next day
5. brought volume up to 120ml the next day
6. Brought volume upt o 350ml the next day
7. Brought volume up to 1L the next day.

Ferment temp was a little high (~20-22) so i could smell the sweet sweet aroma of bananas, which i assume means success. I also tied a ballon to the top of the starter so i didn't have to keep opening the cap. I was very paranoid about sanitation.

Anyway, that was about a week ago. All my lovely yeasties have settled to the bottom of my 1.25L soda water bottle to form a creamy 2cm layer.
Tonight i am making up some wort to replace the 'spent' wort to wake them back up again.

i read a topic on here about people being unsure if reusing a coopers yeastcake is a good idea because the yeast mutates quickly.

I'm worried that my yeast is going to be second generation and be bad.

Also the yeasties have been sitting at around 16-20C the whole time (around a week, thought i put it in the fridge but apparently not) as every day since i made it has meant to be "the day", unfortunately my immersion heater hasn't come. I bought a ring burner yday as i really want to get brewing.


Will this reawakened yeast be alright or should i just start again?

I really want to do my first all grain tomorrow but i will wait if i have to. I bought a sixer this arvo just in case i have to start again.

all thoughts appreciated.

Has it been in a container with an airlock. If so all's fine, same as it would have been fermenting a beer with the yeast for a week. If it's not been sealed from the air.............mmmmmm, think I would toss it. Packet yeast is cheap, life's too short to drink shitty beer.

Screwy

 

[manticle]

Oh sweet. I had decided in the last few minutes that if it was gong to be a 50/50 shot then i'd do an extract brew tomorrow. Can't wait to get into ag!!

Also, i got this giant (i think it may be 80L) stainless pot from a homebrewer at a garage sale last weekend. Can i make a brew, start fermenting, make another brew, chill and thro it on top. And then throw another one top of that?
So it would be a triple batch, slowly added over 2-3 days.
I do like the experience of brewing but if i can megs batches that would be awesome!

If you are sanitary and careful, you can add any kind of fermentable (including wort) to a batch. Careful not to splash too much.

However adding a whole wort might have issues.

One thing I'm not sure of is how the yeast will deal with things at different stages (eg aerobic versus anaerobic) so my feeling is it would be best done early in the piece rather than later. Otherwise brew seperately and blend later.

By not sure I mean not sure - it's just something that occurred to me. I have the impression at least one trappist brewery does something similar but it's all in a small time frame and they know what they are doing.