how long to wait before pitching?

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by nicholasb, May 17, 2012.

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  1. nicholasb

    nicholasb Initiate (0) Nov 13, 2005 Michigan

    I'm making a California Common. I added cooled, aerated wort to the fermenter, and sealed it all up about three hours ago. It's in the cellar at 62 degrees. I made a two liter starter (I wanted to set a portion aside for another starter). I'm waiting for it to settle out so I can decant. I'm good about sanitation, but how long can I afford to wait before pitching the yeast? Thanks in advance.
     
  2. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    You really should plan for your starter to be ready to pitch when the wort is ready for it. Having said that, you could speed up the settling (assuming the starter is done) by cold crashing the starter in your fridge, then decanting and pitching. Some will tell you not to pitch cold yeast into wort, but it's a fairly wide (though not the most common) practice and seems to work fine. Some of my best beers have been 'cold pitched.' Or you could just pitch the whole starter (no need to wait and decant), but you may not want to do that if it's very large. (Personally I always decant.)
     
  3. MLucky

    MLucky Initiate (0) Jul 31, 2010 California

    I would probably pitch ASAP, to be honest. Waiting for the starter to settle is going to take something like 8 hours I would guess (I usually leave it in the fridge overnight) and I probably wouldn't want to leave the wort sitting for that long. Chances are it'd be OK if you were very careful about sanitation, but it seems to me a risk not worth taking for the sake of avoiding the necessity of adding 1 liter of starter wort. Also, I think you should aerate immediately prior to pitching--leaving it sit will allow the wort to degas somewhat.
     
  4. nicholasb

    nicholasb Initiate (0) Nov 13, 2005 Michigan

    I had the starter in the fridge for eight hours, and it still hadn't totally settled out. In the end, I decanted about a liter (and saved it in smaller jars for future starters) and pitched. I had aerated the wort with a diffusion stone after putting it in the fermenter, and it was still quite foamy when I pitched.

    Time will tell, I guess.

    Thanks for the responses, guys.
     
  5. pweis909

    pweis909 Grand Pooh-Bah (3,250) Aug 13, 2005 Wisconsin
    Pooh-Bah

    I don't think waiting is such a big deal. I can cool wort to 65 or so very rapidly, but if I'm making a lager, I don't pitch until my cooler brings the wort down to 48 or so, which generally means letting the wort sit in the cooler overnight. I guess you could argue that at cooler temps, the risk that an infection will take hold is minimal. You said you were confident in your sanitation, so I say, RDWHAHB.
     
  6. nicholasb

    nicholasb Initiate (0) Nov 13, 2005 Michigan

    pweis, you make a good point. I thank you for the reassurance.
     
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