I’ve got two starters ready and two worts boiling on the stove.
Both starters taste sourish and not tasty. I’ve never really tasted my starters before, so I don’t know what they would usually taste like.
I had a batch come out sour recently, and now I’m thinking that my frozen starter wort maybe is sour/contaminated (there’s no more left, but I used the last of it in these starters).
Just curious what others think. I know most people who taste them say the starters taste nasty, but sour?
I’m thinking of splitting both batches and doing half with the starter and half with dry yeast to see what’s up. Or just chucking the starters and going with dry, but then I won’t learn anything…
I find my starters often seem to be a bit off tasting. I think it’s because there’s no hops in them, they’ve been aggressively aerated and usually done warmer than I’d do a beer. I only dumped out one when there we a clearly evident vinegar smell to it. Otherwise they’ve all been fine.
Your stir bar is probably sitting in the sink trap. if your drain is PVC, you could tape a magnet ti some wire and try and fish it out or just take the trap apart.
You should re-boil your frozen starter wort. I can mine but still re-boil. And if you ferment at a warm temp it can make for a pretty funky tasting starter. Better safe than sorry, what yeast did you end up using?