When to scrap a stinking starter?

Share your experiences of using brewing yeast.
f00b4r
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Re: When to scrap a stinking starter?

Post by f00b4r » Fri Feb 09, 2018 9:59 am

Are you intending fermenting a split wort with them? It would be interesting to see if the end beer tasted different.

f00b4r
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Re: When to scrap a stinking starter?

Post by f00b4r » Fri Feb 09, 2018 10:00 am

Are you intending fermenting a split wort with them? It would be interesting to see if the end beer tasted different.

MTW
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Re: When to scrap a stinking starter?

Post by MTW » Fri Feb 09, 2018 10:33 am

donchiquon wrote:
Thu Feb 08, 2018 9:53 pm
IPA wrote:
Sat Sep 30, 2017 6:26 pm
Next time you want to save yeast try my method outlined on this post.
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=78251#p812576
I recently revived a four year old sample using this method.
Late last year I decided to test the scavaging method side by side with the overbuild method, as I've continued to get winey/tart smelling jars of stored yeast using the overbuild method.

A week ago I made up two WLP002 starters, one using a jar of October 2017 overbuilt yeast from a fresh pack of 002, the other using a 500ml sample that I had drawn off (as per IPA's method) from the bitter than I had used the main body of the overbuilt starter to brew (ie it was also taken in October 2017).

I therefore ended up with a 300ml jar of (eventually compacted) yeast with starter wort sitting on it, and a 500ml bottle with compacted yeast and beer on top of it (a 5.5% ESB).

I boiled up 2.5L of DME and drained off the starter wort from the overbuilt starter jar. I could already smell the cidery smell that seems to plague these overbuilt starters (despite careful boiling and sanitising of all the equipment). I added 300ml of wort and set it on a stir plate.

At the same time I poured off the beer from the "high krausen" yeast sample, and as recommended by IPA I drank it. No off flavours. All good. I gave the yeast at the bottom a shake and sniff - just a gentle bready yeasty smell, no cider. I added 100ml of wort and shook every few hours.

36 hours later I sniffed and tested both starters. The overbuild one smelled and tasted gently cidery and tart, the high krausen starter gently bready and yeasty.

At this point I cooled the overbuild starter, and added the high krausen starter to 2L of wort on a stir plate. I cooled this after 48 hours.

I've just retasted both starters. The overbuild is now quite strongly cidery and tart, the high krausen one bready and yeasty - actually quite a pleasant drink with not a whiff of an off flavour.

I've got a similar double yeast store saved for WLP001 which I'm intending to rerun the same test with, but I think I've already decided which method to carry on with!

Thanks IPA!
I'm 3 generations down with WLP007 harvested using IPA's method and neither the son nor grandson of the original vial-started brew have shown any deviation I can perceive yet, in the starter or the main batch, in terms of taste and performance. I will be confident in pitching the next brew with the harvest taken from the last one. I pitch the thick bottle-harvest deposit straight into a 1L DME starter each time, which I guess ensures plenty of fresh yeast growth vs methods where the starter may unwittingly be over-pitched.
Busy in the Summer House Brewery

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donchiquon
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Re: When to scrap a stinking starter?

Post by donchiquon » Fri Feb 09, 2018 10:43 pm

f00b4r wrote:Are you intending fermenting a split wort with them? It would be interesting to see if the end beer tasted different.
Agreed, that did cross my mind but I chickened out as my conical was already in use and I only had one plastic FV to hand (the others are full of grain).

In retrospect I should just have separated off a few litres to ferment out with the overbuild.


Ian
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Re: When to scrap a stinking starter?

Post by McMullan » Sat Feb 10, 2018 1:07 am

Err, 'neither the son nor grandson of the original vial'? Female is the default in biology, us males are merely the manifestation of hormones (testosterone). 'Daughter' and 'grand daughter', or, as seems to be convention, the neutered 2nd and 3rd generation.

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