Starter issue.

how old is your yeast? did you pitch the starter too hot? have you shaken the starter at all? and if so what happens? maybe give what you have a little time

 

wort with no yeast pitched is at its most vulnerable state, how long do you really want to leave it sit there without yeast in it? Perhaps start a lager starter sooner?

 

That's what I would do.

I keep dry yeast on hand now at all times, just in case there's an issue like this. Don't know if there's good dry lager yeast available or not, but if so, I'd get some.

 

I would do one of two things:

1. pitch what I got and and start some more to pitch on top of that as soon as I could, or
2. preserve the wort as best as possible (cool it, keep air out, maybe in a keg?), start a fresh batch of yeast, and when it is ready put the wort back in the kettle for a minimal boil to ensure it's safe to pitch, chill, pitch and business as usual.

Good luck, I am sure this is frustrating.

 

As @AlCaponeJunior said, wort with no yeast pitched is at its most vulnerable state.

Starters need more than a day to get the cell count where you need it as well. It may take some time for it to get going, especially depending on the age of the yeast.

 

Your description indicates the yeast are growing. Sometimes a starter doesn't have a nice krausen or it falls so quickly (think overnight) you miss it. If you have foaming to the top of your growler that is CO2 the yeast are creating. That means they are alive and growing. After a period of time between shakes you should notice the slurry of yeast on the bottom of the growler is getting larger. Starting at 60 degrees is on the low side, likely influences a slower growth rate.

I have pitched yeast five days after wort went in the primary with success. Not at all ideal, but can be done.

After a couple of "bad" yeasts, I always keep a back-up packet of dry yeast available. But in your case it seems you just need to let your starter finish. A problem I would worry more about is since you don't know how meany yeast cells you pitched (or inoculation rate) you really don't have an idea of what to expect from the starter.

 

As @PortLargo said it sounds like your yeast is fine if its foaming up when swirled. Yeast activity in starters is no where as visually active as in a full 5 gallon batch, especially with lager yeast.

I like to give my lager starters 2-3 days at room temp then 2-3 days cold crashing in the fridge, so I can decant off the warm fermented lager beer.

 

“I have shaken plenty of times and the starter foams up to the top of my growler.”

Your starter is just fine! Just pitch it now!

Cheers!

 

if there is foam when you shake it there is yeast working. follow above advice. i'd pith the starter and let it ride, it may be under ideal size, but that is how i roll

 

This is normal . . . your starter has finished. Every starter I make does exactly this, sometimes I get a nice krausen, sometimes no. Because you have lager yeast and started at 60 it went slower than an ale yeast, that is to be expected. I am fairly sure you have more and healthier yeast than when you started.

As for pitching more yeast: now you are guessing. I recommend you determine how many cells you need, not just add a packet. Here a yeast calculator is your friend (I like yeastcalc.com). Input your volume, OG, style (lager) and it will tell you what you need. Because you don't have date of original packet you may have started 80 billion cells or 40 billion or ??? cells, so you really don't know how many went in the starter or how many came out. Overpitching is preferred to underpitching, but not by much.

On the mrmalty website under Articles there are two long reads on pitch rates/starter FAQs. Understand this and you have it made.

 

No offense intended, but was this your first starter? Everything you described is normal. The lots of foaming you had initially was due to the very active yeast making lots of CO2, and when you swirled, it came out of solution. When you swirled later and got less and less foam, that's because the yeast were winding down and not making as much CO2, because there was little left for them to eat.

By the way, it's that decrease down to little or no foaming that you should look for to know that your starter is done. I assume you're going to pitch this whole starter into your beer wort, but in the future I would recommend planning ahead so that you have time to cold crash your finished starter and decant most of the liquid away from your yeast slurry. Technically that liquid is beer, but it wasn't part of your recipe, and generally starters aren't made under optimal beer fermentation conditions.

 

Just remember, this is a bottom fermenting lager yeast and it will not act like an ale yeast. Expect a longer lag time and a reduced krausen. Ale yeast are like an NBA fast-break . . . lager yeast is more like high-schoolers bringing the ball down court.

 

How about checking the gravity of the starter? No one suggested that.

 

I sometimes recommend that, but not when the starter has behaved normally.