A Question About My Restarting Starter

[EthanH]

This has never happened to me before, so I was looking for advice. Last week I made a ~2L starter for some harvested WLP001. The intent was to use this for a Pliny the Elder clone (grain bill ~15#).

When I made the starter, I used 2 cups of extra-light DME, let it go for about 2 days and then stuck it in the fridge. After a couple days all the yeast had dropped out of suspension. So far so good.

On brew day (today), I had intended to pull the starter in the morning and when I brewed in the afternoon, simply decant the wort and pitch the stuff on bottom. I've done this before with no issues. Today, however, I noticed that the starter has clearly restarted activity.

So the question: should I shake it up now, getting all the yeast into suspension and get some extra reproduction, or just leave it. Either way it seems like I should pitch the whole thing (wort and yeast) since I'm thinking there's probably a significant amount of yeast in suspension now. But I could even be wrong on that. I was hoping not to pitch 1.5-2 L of sugar water into my beer, but it might be unavoidable.

Thoughts?

 

[mtnagel]

You mean you saw signs of fermentation while it was in the fridge? Or after you brought it back up to room temp? Either way, I've never seen that before either. But what I do is pull it from the fridge when I start brewing and immediately decant the liquid from the top and then let the yeast come up to room temp so that it's ready to pitch when I'm done. So I'd never see any signs of fermentation.

 

[EthanH]

When I brought it up to room temp was when I saw signs. And they weren't as vigorous as the first go 'round. In any event, I split the difference, decanted about half the wort, swirled it and pitched it. It's happily bubbling away in the fermenter this AM, so at least I know there was sufficient yeast. We'll see how it tastes in about 6 wks.

That's a good idea, re: decanting the wort right away. I imagine it brings the yeast up to temp more quickly. I guess I'd always assumed there was a benefit of leaving a "protective" layer of liquid till the last minute.

I'll try it your way next time. Thanks.

 

[mtnagel]

I decant and put the foil cover right back on. Perhaps there is a smaller risk, but I think it's better to do it cold because you can more easily pour off the top layer.

Glad everything worked for you.

 

[mtnagel]

I decant and put the foil cover right back on. Perhaps there is a smaller risk, but I think it's better to do it cold because you can more easily pour off the top layer.

Glad everything worked for you.

 

[dinnerstick]

some yeast will wake up when they start to warm, others don't seem to bother. 1968/fullers/002 for example is notorious for bubbling up to the top like a lava lamp before eventually (hours later) settling back down. 1056/s05/001 doesn't so much in my hands, but i always decant when it's still cold.

 

[EthanH]

Thanks everybody.

And I should've qualified my "this has never happened to me..." It's only recently that I haven't made my starters the day before and poured the whole thing in. Probably why I'd missed the whole decanting of wort right out of the fridge practice.

Thanks again.