Yeast Starter

[CJJoynt]

Hey guys, I've been homebrewing for years, but this is my first time attempting to use a starter, and I have a lot of anxiety about it. It's not doing what I expected. Can someone tell me if this looks ok by these pictures? I made the starter Thursday, and am brewing tonight, so quick responses would be appreciated. Thanks!!

 

[kh54s10]

Looks perfect. What were you expecting?

What OG will the recipe have. I would limit that starter to about 1.060

 

[BGHSmt7]

Looks about right to me. I use a stir plate, so I usually get a bit more slurry on the bottom, but that's better than just pitching a packet / vial / pouch.

 

[CJJoynt]

OK, thanks! I guess I was expecting a little more activity from it, but a lot of what I was seeing was starters with stir plates- which I didn't use.

 

[fr5ed]

I built my own stir plate for about $21 in less than 2 hours - more like an hour really. I read the instructions here and here and here, but then watched this video and paused it along the way to replicate each step (except for the doing it drunk part). It works great!

http://www.fr5ed.com/silent5/2016/10/03/brew-002-all-amarillo-american-pale-ale/img_7336/

 

[ericbw]

It took me more than 2 hours to build my stir plate, but it is way cheaper than buying one. Mine has a speed control on it, which added some steps. And when I use the "glue" for electrical connections and put the box back together, it would never work. So I took it apart and didn't use the glue - no problems.

If you like little projects, it's kind of fun.

 

[ScrewyBrewer]

I usually pitch 1 vial of liquid yeast into 2 liters of 1.035 wort and on a stirplate expect the cell count to double.

 

[fatherdan]

probably a tired subject but what is the prevailing wisdom on using a store bought wort for starters?

Ive read about the product that Northern Brewer sells and some people use a Goya product.

 

[pshankstar]

Looks good OP. Right now I would say is a good time to build a stir plate.

I found this deal on a computer fan (I was the tipster on Twitter). Yes I tooted my own horn, lol!

Swing by a smoke shop or cigar store and pick up an empty cigar box. Some times they are free, the place near me sells them for $2-3 each.

Pick up a speed control unit like this one. I purchased this device too, although I wish it was a little better at controlling the RPMs of the fan, but it does the job.

Then get some bolts, nuts and some rubber washers at Home Depot, Lowes or whatever hardware store you have near by. These parts should be less than $5 total.

Magnets, if you want to buy them from the hardware store you can. Or source them from a dead hard drive and they are free (that's what I did).

So after the mail in rebate of the fan, you are probably looking at $15 +/- and some time to assemble everything. The stir bars you can get on Amazon too, but I didn't factor those in at the moment.

 

[BGHSmt7]

probably a tired subject but what is the prevailing wisdom on using a store bought wort for starters?

Ive read about the product that Northern Brewer sells and some people use a Goya product.

I've used nb's fastpitch before and it worked fine. I didn't have to worry about boil overs or cooling, just sanitize, pour, add water, pitch.