Pitch today or tomorrow: What would you do?

Brewing Processes
1

About to start a brew day.  Should be about 7 hours total.

I just pitched San Fran Lager yeast (white labs) into my starter.  The yeast turned out to be a little old (is now at 60% viability, as per Mr. Malty).

The specifics are below but my question is whether it’s best to pitch after I’m done brewing (in about 7 hours), or let the wort sit overnight (giving the starter more time) and pitch tomorrow…or do something else?

Thoughts?

details:
5 Gallon batch
1.050 target OG
aerate with aquarium pump
could run to LHBS during brew (but he doesn’t have San Fran Lager yeast)

I’m probably neglecting some relevant info, but can’t think of anything else right now to mention.  But I’ll be checking this during the brew…

Thanks!!!

2

Given the OG, I’d say today is fine.

3

thanks…I should also mention to all that I don’t have a stir plate for the starter.  But I’ll be swirling it as much as possible.

4

How big a starter did you make?  If it is around 1 L or so, I would wait until the starter has reached high krausen (you will know this when you give your starter a good swirl and lots of foam rises up) and pitch at that point. It will probably be tonight after you are done brewing. Just keep an eye on it.

5

I had about 150g of DME, so did a 1.5L starter.

6

i’d pitch tonight once its at high krausen

7

I have a stir plate, but I’ve stopped using it.  I found that it was unnecessary and more trouble than it was worth.

8

A stir plate is not necessary for making a healthy starter.  A decent amount of dissolved O2 at inoculaton or shortly there after followed by pitching the starter at high krausen will ensure that the culture makes quick work of owning the wort.

9

I pitched it that night–not sure if it was high krausen, but it was definitely at the point where just a little swirl caused lots of foam to quickly form…more importantly it was at the point where I went to bed.  :slight_smile:

Fermentation has been about what I usually see.  Maybe a little slower than usual, but it’s a lager yeast and I’ve got the fermenter sitting in cold water with a towel around it, so that makes sense.  It’s at about 61F (doing a California Common, so lager yeast at ale-ish temperature).

10

Tell me if I’m wrong, but if you’ve chilled your wort to the right temp (similar to what you grew the starter up at) are you not pitching your yeasties in to the ultimate starter if you do it right away???