Left starter for two days - still good?

[DrGarbonzo]

Hi all,

I was ready to brew this week and made a starter Monday night to brew with the next day. Then I forgot about it until Wednesday night, woops! I put it in the fridge Wednesday and plan to decant tonight - anything wrong with using a starter left out for ~48 hrs? My gut instinct is that if there's enough slurry then its fine but I'm no expert and it'd be a shame to waste a 5 gal batch.

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[unviewtiful]

If you got sufficient growth with the starter, 2 days in the fridge won't make a difference.

 

[isomerization]

Did you inoculate the starter on monday? Most people do growth periods of 24-48 hr (with the majority leaning toward the latter).

Why are you concerned? I feel like I’m missing something...

 

[DrGarbonzo]

Ah gotcha, I had always just done 24 hours - great, should be fine then. Mainly I was concerned since I don't have a stir plate and wasn't around to agitate it but life.....uh..finds a way

Thanks!

 

[ApolloSimcoe]

just warm her up to pitching temps before use and you're rollin'

 

[day_trippr]

Crash, decant, and use it. The only thing worse than spent starter wort is oxidized spent starter wort, so lose as much as possible while leaving just enough to swirl it loose, pour out what you can and rinse out the rest with your fresh wort.

fwiw, if using a stir plate there's really no need to go beyond 18 hours or so. We're actually not looking to fully ferment the starter, just looking to get the maximum cell replication. I typically begin a starter midday and take it off the plate and start crashing in the morning...

Cheers!

 

[DrGarbonzo]

Brewed and pitched tonight! Also added some dregs from Upland’s Iredescent sour.