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Author Topic: Yeast Starter Life Expectancy  (Read 1411 times)

Offline zsmith87

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Yeast Starter Life Expectancy
« on: June 06, 2016, 06:31:47 pm »
Looking for some advice. Last Thursday I made a yeast starter with the intention to brew on Saturday. After 24 hours of being on a stir plate, put the starter in my fridge to crash as usual, but then Saturday brew day never happened. I now am planning on brewing Friday, 8 days after, with the starter still in the fridge. Should I whip it back out and put it on the stir plate again, does 8 days of 'cold crashing' kind of nullify the effects of a starter?

Offline crakers540

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Re: Yeast Starter Life Expectancy
« Reply #1 on: June 06, 2016, 06:37:48 pm »
I would pull it out Thursday, slowly bring to room temp, and add some "food" to get them growing and propagating again.  I think your starter will be fine.

Offline brewinhard

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Re: Yeast Starter Life Expectancy
« Reply #2 on: June 07, 2016, 08:53:01 am »
I would pull it out Thursday, slowly bring to room temp, and add some "food" to get them growing and propagating again.  I think your starter will be fine.

If you do this, you may want to consider decanting the spent wort first prior to adding some more cooled starter wort to wake up your yeast.  If you do decide to go this route, try to time you fresh wort addition so you can pitch it at high krausen (active) into your cooled batch of wort you brewed that day.

So maybe you pull your starter out of fridge early on brew day and add your fresh wort then and it will probably be ready to pitch by the end of your brewing.

If you don't go this route, I bet your starter will be just fine pitching as is without doing anything extra to it. This is probably the route I would take as it is less work and will produce a fine beer. Less chance of infection too.

Offline zsmith87

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Re: Yeast Starter Life Expectancy
« Reply #3 on: June 07, 2016, 09:56:53 am »
I would pull it out Thursday, slowly bring to room temp, and add some "food" to get them growing and propagating again.  I think your starter will be fine.

If you do this, you may want to consider decanting the spent wort first prior to adding some more cooled starter wort to wake up your yeast.  If you do decide to go this route, try to time you fresh wort addition so you can pitch it at high krausen (active) into your cooled batch of wort you brewed that day.

So maybe you pull your starter out of fridge early on brew day and add your fresh wort then and it will probably be ready to pitch by the end of your brewing.

If you don't go this route, I bet your starter will be just fine pitching as is without doing anything extra to it. This is probably the route I would take as it is less work and will produce a fine beer. Less chance of infection too.

Ok, I figured the easy route would be OK, and as you mentioned avoid any further risk of contamination. Thanks for the reassurance.

Offline narcout

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Re: Yeast Starter Life Expectancy
« Reply #4 on: June 07, 2016, 10:35:33 am »
does 8 days of 'cold crashing' kind of nullify the effects of a starter?

It obviously won't be at high krausen, but the yeast will be fine.
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