[kramerog]

Before pitching a saccharomyces starter, I usually put it in the fridge to drop the yeast out so I can decant the beer off before pitching the starter.  If I put a lacto starter in the fridge, will the lacto drop out like out yeast?  The starter I'm making smells pretty funky so i want to decant it before pitching. 

[nateo]

Just toss it all in the beer! It'll be fine. Unless it smells like "dirty sock" funky, then maybe don't use it. All my lacto starters smell a lot like sauerkraut.

[troybinso]

Lacto isn't as flocculant as yeast, so it will take longer for it to fall to the bottom of your vessel. It will fall, though, and it is faster in the fridge.

[kylekohlmorgen]

I don't like trying to crash-cool lacto because I think it stunts their growth. You'll get slurry at the bottom eventually. The starter usually tastes pretty bland, so I think its good to decant if you have more than 250mL or so.

A lacto starter shouldn't have much of any funk to it.

What's it smell/taste like?

[kramerog]

It has a parmesan cheese smell.  I added some lactic acid to the starter to suppress unwanted bugs and let the starter continue overnight.  I refrigerated the starter, decanted off the liquid and pitched.  So far my no-boil BW tastes clean.  I suspect the starter size, 3 L, may have been too big for a package of Wyeast 5335.

[kylekohlmorgen]

It has a parmesan cheese smell.  I added some lactic acid to the starter to suppress unwanted bugs and let the starter continue overnight.  I refrigerated the starter, decanted off the liquid and pitched.  So far my no-boil BW tastes clean.  I suspect the starter size, 3 L, may have been too big for a package of Wyeast 5335.

Nice descriptor!

Not sure what causes that, but if after pitching the starter you're BW is gaining acidity and not smelling funky, you're well on your way!

[kramerog]

The BW appears to have fermented with some kind of yeast lurking in my basement.  The acidity did not increase.  The taste is fairly clean.  I dumped the whole batch as I don't have surplus equipment and time to tie up for an unintended experiment.

I didn't boil the starter following a recent thread here, but I think that was a mistake for making a lacto starter 'cuz lacto is not just not very good at outcompeting other organisms in wort.  Also, I think doing a 3L starter without stepping up to 1L may have contributed.