Starter question

Yesterday (Tuesday) I made a starter, in the hopes of brewing tomorrow (Thursday).  It appears as though I won't be able to brew now until Friday.  I was not going to cold crash it, but rather toss the entire starter into my wort.  Am I OK keeping it on my counter until Friday?  Or due to the extra time should I consider just putting it in the refrigerator?

Couple of thoughts here. First; What's your batch size? And second; what's the starter size?

If you're going to toss the whole enchalada into the fermenter, I'd think about the volume of the starter versus the volume of the wort in the fermenter. If, say, you're looking at a 5-gallon batch, and you've whipped up a nifty 1 liter starter, that 1 liter of fermented DME or whatever you used for your starter will have a flavor impact on the finished beer so it's best to keep that contribution to a minimum. This is one if the reasons we crash starters.

Another option would be to pitch at high krausen, but if you've already made the starter, I reckon it's past high krausen now so that's out.

I forget what the ratios are, but there comes a point where the flavor contribution from a starter comes into play so you'd want to keep that at a minimum. I'd pitch a .5L starter in a 5-gallon batch, but as it approaches a liter and beyond, I'd crash it.

If it's done (normally takes only 24-36 hours before it is basically done), I'd put it in the fridge, even if only overnight - that's plenty of time for most starters to drop clear - and slowly pour the spent wort off the yeast leaving just a little bit of the wort and let it come back up to pitching temps while you brew. This works for me every time.

philm63 said:

there comes a point where the flavor contribution from a starter comes into play so you'd want to keep that at a minimum. I'd pitch a .5L starter in a 5-gallon batch, but as it approaches a liter and beyond, I'd crash it.

If it's done (normally takes only 24-36 hours before it is basically done), I'd put it in the fridge, even if only overnight - that's plenty of time for most starters to drop clear - and slowly pour the spent wort off the yeast leaving just a little bit of the wort and let it come back up to pitching temps while you brew. This works for me every time.

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Bravo, Phil.

I just put it in the refrigerator.  The starter was a small one.....only 800ml.  I was just trying to "wake up" some washed WLP001.  It was a healthy amount that I had harvested previously, and I know it's more than enough for my next batch which will only be in the 6% range.

The starter liquid was from a batch I had made last week.  I had some left over runnings from my mash tun that read around 1.020-1.022 that I froze for the very purpose of making a starter.  Worked great, but now I'm just delayed by one day.  I doubt that with the 6% beer I'm making Friday that it would be a problem.

Thanks for the input.

I wouldn't worry. I often pull the crap off the bottom of my fermenter and toss it in the next batch. That is some of the best yeast I've ever had and it has been at room temp for 2 or 3 weeks. It just don't mater.