Pushing back brew day, starter question

[rmolledo]

How long can a starter sit on the stir plate and be fine? Today is day 2. Was planning on brewing today but have to push it back to Monday. Will it be ok staying on the stir plate or does it need to be placed in the fridge?

 

[day_trippr]

Put it in the fridge. Take it out an hour or two before you're ready to pitch, decant most of the spent beer then swirl up and pitch the rest...

Cheers!

 

[Vale71]

Better place it in the fridge, it will hold its vitality much longer.

 

[Terpene]

If it's just a few days, I'd keep it at room temp, not refrigerated. There is a downside to large down/up temperature swings, including a longer lag phase.

Plus it's just extra steps with no real benefit, again, assuming its just a few days.

Many home brewers routinely refrigerate starters, so you'll be fine either way.

 

[Terpene]

Afterthought: My sense is that, in general, avoiding the temperature cycle is less stressful on the yeast.

 

[Boden]

As long as they have enough food I’d leave them out.

 

[shoengine]

I'm not a microbiologist, but from experience I recently left a starter out between 50-60F after it finished it's business for about two weeks and there was no lag and no off flavors, and considering it was a pilsner they would've been easy to detect. It appears they just went dormant and had a nice alcohol blanket to keep them protected.