My starter exploded!

[Jbug]

Made a starter last night and put an aeration stone in it over night.... When I get up this morn this thing has foamed up so bad that I've lost some liquid and I'm sure I've lost some yeast.... Should I be worried about my yeast count I'm going to br pitching tomorrow? Thanks!
Josh

By the way WLP830 smells like cinnamon rolls when it's munching on DME... Pretty cool!

[spiderwrangler]

It probably foamed over due to the aeration stone, similar to when you are boiling and bubbles form and climb the sides. How much were you pumping in? How big was your starter, what was it in, and can you tell how much has been lost? Unless you've lost a significant amount of liquid, it likely isn't a huge issue and will probably still work. Since you are continuously aerating, I'm assuming you are going to be chilling it down and decanting off the spent wort to pitch just the yeast slurry on the bottom?

[Jbug]

I had in a huge glass pickle jar, and I was a liter sized starter.... I don't think I lost a huge amount... And as far as the stone it was one of the larger, maybe 4" stones, just hooked to a small aquarium pump.., I planned on decanting the spent wort but do you think it maybe a better idea to just pitch the whole liter in so I don't lose any of the yeast that still maybe in suspension after chilling?

[spiderwrangler]

If it's a 1L starter, how much to you think you have left? I'd guess that you've probably got more than 800mL left? A 1L starter is going to be limited in the amount of growth that you'll get anyway. Chilling will drop the yeast down, there will be relatively few still in suspension, and I'd imagine that the continually aerated wort will contribute more of an off flavor if you pitched the whole thing than what you might potentially gain by including a few more yeast that are still in suspension. I'd say chill it, decant and pitch the slurry. What style beer is it going to be? OG? What yeast product are you using?

[Jbug]

Yeah I would guess there's about that much left... I guess I'd better order a flask for the next time... It's Dubbel ... OG should be at 1.084... I'll be pitching WLP530 abbey ale....

[Jbug]

Also I've stopped the aeration and just go back to shaking it from time to time... I don't want that mess again... It smelt great tho

[spiderwrangler]

With a OG of 1084 and a 1L starter, your yeast may be a bit under what you would ideally want. Check out Jamil's calculator at Mr. Malty... for that OG you'd want around 3 times the yeast you'd get in one pack, but won't be able to get that sort of growth in a 1L starter. If you've got a LHBS, you could pick up another pack of yeast and be pretty close. Alternately, if you can push brew day back and have the containers for it, you could make up two more 1L starters and split your slurry between them. Or just pitch it and don't worry about it..

[Jbug]

Yeah I think I'm just gonna pitch it and order another vial and pitch it when it comes in... Couldn't be any worse than what I used to do and just pitch the vial (i still had good beer that way too) prob just worrying about too much... It's gonna be beer regardless! Thanks for your help... I'll let you know how it turns out!