[bigv2004]

First question: I was going to make a brew today but woke this morning to a very dull looking yeast starter.
I used Denny's favorite 50 with a stir plate. In fact when I had this mixing on the stir plate yesterday and it seemed very inactive, I threw in a packet of dry yeast with it. I think the temperature dropped to below 18 degrees in the night. I've warmed it back up to approx 27 degrees now but it still seems very inactive i.e. no bubbles (fermentation) at all. Following this guys blog https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEQBPeHfXD0 it looks very similar. Previous yeast starters with dried yeast seemed to have become active after an hour or so. Is this normal?
Second question: It's now too late in the day to brew. Can I save this yeast somehow for 7 days until next weekend?

[denny]

You won't see much of any foam on a stir plate.  Let it settle for a while and see how much sediment is on the bottom.  The low temp may have slowed it down, but it didn't kill it.  With the dry yest in there too, you'll have more than enough.

[bigv2004]

You won't see much of any foam on a stir plate.  Let it settle for a while and see how much sediment is on the bottom.  The low temp may have slowed it down, but it didn't kill it.  With the dry yest in there too, you'll have more than enough.

Thanks Denny
I missed my brew time this morning so I've stuck it in the fridge until next weekend.

[brewinhard]

Next time, as Denny stated, let the stir plate turn off and allow the yeast to sediment on the bottom of the flask.  If the yeast that settles out has a nice fresh "whitish" color then it is most likely new and ready to go.  Brew as normal and SAVE the dry yeast packet to pitch into another batch or into a batch that may not get going properly (as a back up).