cms
Well-Known Member
So this morning I was in the process of making a starter for Sunday's brewday. I got a vial of WLP001 yesterday afternoon and kept it in the fridge until about an hour or so before I pitched it into my starter. I warmed it in my hands, shook it up, etc. Same thing I've done the previous 5-6 times I've use White Labs yeast, although maybe before I left a bit more time.
But anyway, this time, I twisted the cap, ready to pour it into my flask of cooler wort and it sprayed everywhere! It was foaming out of the top (still attached) so I held it over the mouth of the flask to try and catch as much as I could. I'm not sure how much I lost, but I guess about half of it was sprayed all over my kitchen, myself and the floor (which my dogs licked up, oddly enough).
My suspicion is that either I warmed it up too fast, or it was defective somehow (less likely than user error).
The good news, I think, is that I'm building a 2L starter and I can give it almost a full two days to build up before I pitch. So (and this is a wild guess) I can probably pitch the equivalent of a non-started vial in terms of # of cells but at least the yeast is warmed up and ready to go.
At this point, I think I will probably pitch the entire starter just to make sure I have enough yeast. But that's a lot of starter wort - I don't feel great about that.
So my questions are:
1. Why the heck did that vial spray yeast all over the place?
2. Should I pitch the whole starter, or chill it before pitching and try to decant (I've never pitched that much starter wort - will it make my batch taste bad)?
3. Should I dump my starter and buy a new vial?
But anyway, this time, I twisted the cap, ready to pour it into my flask of cooler wort and it sprayed everywhere! It was foaming out of the top (still attached) so I held it over the mouth of the flask to try and catch as much as I could. I'm not sure how much I lost, but I guess about half of it was sprayed all over my kitchen, myself and the floor (which my dogs licked up, oddly enough).
My suspicion is that either I warmed it up too fast, or it was defective somehow (less likely than user error).
The good news, I think, is that I'm building a 2L starter and I can give it almost a full two days to build up before I pitch. So (and this is a wild guess) I can probably pitch the equivalent of a non-started vial in terms of # of cells but at least the yeast is warmed up and ready to go.
At this point, I think I will probably pitch the entire starter just to make sure I have enough yeast. But that's a lot of starter wort - I don't feel great about that.
So my questions are:
1. Why the heck did that vial spray yeast all over the place?
2. Should I pitch the whole starter, or chill it before pitching and try to decant (I've never pitched that much starter wort - will it make my batch taste bad)?
3. Should I dump my starter and buy a new vial?