So I have been trying to brew some saisons for a couple of weeks (well longer actually) and made a starter a week and a half ago. I actually ended up splitting it and making two starters. One on a stirplate the other next to it.
I am mashing right now. I just looked at the one on the stir plate. I had turned the stir plate off 2 days ago. It was getting fuzzy, maybe a pellicle? on top.
I poured off the wort on both and added some fresh starter wort. I am still going to pitch it. Just curious what was going on?
I would give it a good whiff and pour a bit off to taste. It’ll taste like rear end, but it should taste like a yeast’s rear end. If it doesn’t smell like yeast and doesn’t taste yeasty or has more of a ‘bite’ to it, then toss it, chill your wort as cold as you can and if you’ve got a fridge for fermentation, get it colder in there, and run out and grab a new vial and pitch it, if your sanitation is good, it should be fine till tomorrow. I would hate to see your Saison turn into a bad rendition of a lambic.
My experience is that if it doesn’t look like foamy krausen but more of a silky set of bubbles or skin, it’s bacteria.
Agreed. Most likely just a small krausen. I’ve even gone so far as to, a few hours after turning off the stir plate, come back to a starter flask in full blowoff mode.
No, not krauesen. It was certainly another form of life. Webby looking.
It was a huge pitch of yeast. So, I am hoping for the best. I am not going to freak about it. It did not smell funky. Well, it did, but in a Belgian saison kind of funky. I did not think to taste the wort before dumping it.
I guess I was just wondering what other form of life had begun to grow.