When Should I Cold Crash My Starter?

[Crumb93]

I made a 2L starter with two vials of WLP001 Tuesday evening. It developed a decent krausen Tuesday night, and then seemed to slow down Wednesday throughout the day.

So even though the house is cooler at night, the starter blew up Wednesday evening. It actually foamed out the sides of the tin foil.

I want to try decanting this starter, and I've been waiting for the krausen to drop before I stick it in the fridge.

So I'm brewing early Saturday morning, and I'm worried that I'm not going to get it in the fridge in time to get the yeast to drop out. What do you think I should do?

 

[Saboral]

Throw it in this evening. The yeast will be dropped by Saturday and your starter will be more than sufficent.

 

[BigFloyd]

Put it in the fridge Thursday evening.

 

[revco]

The longer it's in the cold, the more yeast you'll pull out of suspension. A few hours is sufficient, but you'll dump some down the drain when you decant. I generally aim for 24(ish) hours for close enough or a couple days to be thorough. If you're not adding more food, you can start decanting whenever it's done fermenting...as long as everything is sanitized, the yeast should stay good for several days with just a foil cover on the container.

 

[Crumb93]

I appreciate the replies. I'll clean the flask off, and throw it in the fridge when I get home in an hour or two. That'll be over 24 hours.

I just hope that it's done for now... I'm going to buy some fermcap too.

 

[fredfoodphilly]

I cold crash the day before, so if I'm brewing Saturday, I make the 1.040 on Tuesday night, let it sit overnight in the Erhlenmeyer with a barrel bung in it, after work Wednesday its cool, so I pitch the yeast, then I use a aquarium filter in a stopper with the clan air going in and have it on the stir plate until Friday night, then put in the fridge with the barrel bung again. Then I sipon the wort off the top, and pitch the cold yeast, and oxygenate, I usually have action when I check before bed on Saturday.