Yeast clumping in starter

[LovesIPA]

I made a starter yesterday because I was planning on brewing today. I put it on the stirplate at about 10am. When I got up this morning the yeast were trying to flocculate. Because of the stirplate there were clumps of yeast swirling around the flask.

I assume that this means they've fermented all the sugar and they're done? I switched the stirplate off until I'm ready to brew.

 

[kh54s10]

18-24 hours and you should be OK. I have had some that looked like a wet snow storm (big flakes) within a couple of hours of starting it. If you have gone less than 18 hours I would leave it on the stirplate. Either way if the yeast are still reproducing they will continue whether or not it is on the stirplate. Also, you are not really concerned as to the amount of sugars, you are increasing cell counts.

 

[BigFloyd]

What yeast is it?

Some, like Wyeast 1968 London ESB, clump up so that it looks like a bunch of cottage cheese twirling around inside the flask. That's normal.

 

[LovesIPA]

Should have put that in the OP. It's WLP001.

Thanks for the replies. I decided to cold crash it and brew tomorrow. My fermentation chamber is still occupied and it doesn't look done. There is still a lot of swirling in the carboy and the airlock is bubbling every 30-45 seconds.

 

[BigFloyd]

Should have put that in the OP. It's WLP001.

Thanks for the replies. I decided to cold crash it and brew tomorrow. My fermentation chamber is still occupied and it doesn't look done. There is still a lot of swirling in the carboy and the airlock is bubbling every 30-45 seconds.

Well, if you cold crash/decant (which I prefer to do anyways), you can use it to suit your brew schedule.

 

[LovesIPA]

Yep, I just wanted to make sure that flocculation = done.

Thanks!

 

[kh54s10]

I don't know about flocculation = done, but I always go by volume and time. Volume determined by mrmalty.com or yeastcalc.com for the gravity of my recipe, and time at least 18-24 hours (per step). I then cold crash and decant anything bigger than 1 liter.

 

[snitramc]

What yeast is it?

Some, like Wyeast 1968 London ESB, clump up so that it looks like a bunch of cottage cheese twirling around inside the flask. That's normal.

-------------------------------
Thanks for that. That's exactly what my 1968 is doing. I was hoping it was normal because I just mashed 38 lbs. of grain for an Imperial Porter and I'd hate to have to toss all that wort.



On tap -
Belgian Trippel
American Red Ale

 

[stvo]

Thursday was the first time I used WLP-002 for a porter looked like this

[ame]http://youtu.be/aYYUYCo4ZFQ[/ame]

Everything else I used so far never clumped like this one!

 

[chisena]

Thursday was the first time I used WLP-002 for a porter looked like this

http://youtu.be/aYYUYCo4ZFQ

Everything else I used so far never clumped like this one!

STVO - How did this starter end up working out for you? I have a starter going from some bottle dregs and after abour 30 hours it looks just like that. Kinda worried me. Cold crashing it now to see how it settles out. I'm not sure if the clumps are yeast or DME.

 

[LovesIPA]

The clumps are yeast. WLP002 just does that.

 

[dan6310]

Here is a pic of my WLP002. They said it would clump up but man it looks disgusting.

 

[tgmartin000]

Here is a pic of my WLP002. They said it would clump up but man it looks disgusting.
View attachment 174574

 

[chisena]

I have had it happen several times again. Yeast works great... Just a bit unsightly.


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