How long to keep a yeast starter?

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!

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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...