Is my yeast starter OK?

[eaglehoo]

I'm brewing tomorrow, so I cooked up a yeast starter at ~noon yesterday: 2/3 cup pilsen LME in 1 qt water, cooled to 70 deg and pitched a vial of WLP 570 Belgian strong golden ale yeast. It's been almost 24 hrs now and I'm seeing no signs of fermentation. The yeast cake doesn't look all that impressive, and I can't see any condensation in the airlock. Any chance the fermentation all happened last night while I wasn't looking? Is this starter still viable? Thx.

 

[VTBrewer]

There's a very good chance it did. Give it a swirl. Does it just foam a little like when you aerate wort, or do you get something more vigorous?

Incidentally, its good to give that starter a nice swirl every now and then or even rig yourself up a stir plate.

 

[eaglehoo]

I get foaming when I swirl it, more active than wort aeration, but it didn't last too long. The same thing happens every time I swirl it. No aggressive eyast foaming like the last time I made a starter (a much smaller version).

 

[VTBrewer]

I think you're probably ok, but you still have what, another 18-24 hours before you pitch, then a solid 3 days before you have to do something in case it doesn't take off. I'd go with what you have, and I'm guessing you'll post Monday morning that your blow off tube is working over time.