WLP 007 Starter question.

I know this should be on the yeast board, but I wanted to get more people to see it.

I made two starters at once yesterday: 3L of 001 and 1.5 of 007, so 4L total of starter wort. The 1.5L starter with 007 and it never built up a krausen . None at all (it’s been 22 hours ago now).

The “best by” date on the 007 was October 20, 2012, so I think it was 6 weeks old or so. I make my starters in growlers and shake them up every time I walk past them for the first 12 hours or so. The 007 gasses off still when I shake it (quite a bit, actually), but no krausen.

Anyone ever experience this? Any idea why this might happen? Is it still OK?

Regular starter? It wasn’t that big of a starter so its probably done already.
I don’t usually get krausen on my starters, but I usually use a stir plate.

Probably just not enough wort to induce a krausen - the fact that it’s off-gassing CO2 when you shake it means that fermentation is happening. If in doubt, check the gravity, but 007 is a beast and I bet it’s already done.

Yeah, I normally don’t see much, if any, krausen with wyeast, but with white labs I usually do see one. That’s why I was a little worried about this one. I made this starter at 9 am yesterday and watched it all day; krausen never even began to form.

The yeast is falling out now, so I’m sure you’re correct that fermentation is about over. Appreciate the input as always.

I’ve noticed when I make a starter with fairly old yeast it sometimes has no krausen, even on a stir plate. By the second step starter it always has krausen though.