How long to keep a yeast starter?

Reads 13173 • Replies 9 • Started Sunday, October 9, 2011 7:24:24 AM CT

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drowland
beers 11069 º places 430 º 07:24 Sun 10/9/2011

Made a starter yesterday and now it’s going to storm all day.

How long can I keep my starter and how? In the fridge? Freezer?

It’s WL001 made with a pint of water and a cup of light DME.

Thanks!

 
suprchunk
beers 2996 º places 147 º 07:43 Sun 10/9/2011

Fridge. I’ve kept some for about a year and a half and they still turned out great beer. Of course I wouldn’t do that on a regular basis. Most I keep them is a week or two, then I usually need the fridge space.

 
drowland
beers 11069 º places 430 º 10:47 Sun 10/9/2011

I think I’ll just spend the 6 bucks again just to be safe.

 
joeneugs
beers 6372 º places 240 º 21:52 Sun 10/9/2011

Originally posted by drowland
I think I’ll just spend the 6 bucks again just to be safe.


You really don’t need to. A starter will be ok for at least a week and possibly months if kept in the fridge. If your waiting a week or more, you may want to add another pint of starter wort to get it active again. You can certainly start over if you want to, but it sounds like a waste of good yeast to me!

 
fidelis83
beers 3837 º places 16 º 00:26 Mon 10/10/2011

I used one that I had kept for at least 6 weeks in my ~70 degree basement. The beer isn’t finished yet, but it tasted fine going into secondary. I’ve used a few that were 1-3 weeks old with no ill effects.

 
SamGamgee
beers 2452 º places 182 º 00:58 Mon 10/10/2011

Put it in the fridge. A few hours before you are going to pitch, add more wort to it (once it has come to room temp again). And generally, a pint starter isn’t going to do much for a white labs or wyeast pack. You need at least a liter to get any significant cell growth.

 
not_relevant
19:41 Mon 10/10/2011

When are you going to brew again? If it is with a week, let the starter ferment out what is in it now, and then decant off the "beer" and step up the starter like 2 days prior to brewing. You’ll have a bigger healthy starter.

Whenever I get a delay in brewing and the starter is already made, I just step up the starter 2 days out and it works great, no worries at all.

 
drowland
beers 11069 º places 430 º 19:44 Mon 10/10/2011

Originally posted by not_relevant
When are you going to brew again? If it is with a week, let the starter ferment out what is in it now, and then decant off the "beer" and step up the starter like 2 days prior to brewing. You’ll have a bigger healthy starter.

Whenever I get a delay in brewing and the starter is already made, I just step up the starter 2 days out and it works great, no worries at all.


This is the main problem... with my schedule, brew days are usually a surprise. I have no idea when, and I don’t really have the fridge space to let a growler chill for a couple of weeks.

I know it’s a waste, but I think I’ll survive making a new one just in case.

 
not_relevant
20:24 Mon 10/10/2011

Let it sit out for a week and a half, two weeks. If it seems like there can be a brew day within that time, step up the starter. no fridge needed.

Think about it, people often ferment for 3 weeks at room temp and dump a new batch on that yeast cake. You will be fine going two weeks out.

 
NobleSquirrel
beers 3437 º places 209 º 08:39 Tue 10/11/2011

Just as an FYI, chilling your starter is a positive thing, it will replenish sugar stores and take off better if it’s cool when you pitch it. Just don’t add a warm starter to cool wort...

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