Home Brewing Thread of the Day - Making a Starter

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SLafourche07

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We were just talking about this here.



But to answer your question...


I occasionally make a starter in a 1L Flask on a stir plate by adding a portion of DME to about 800 mL of water. Boiling it careful not to boil over and cooling it to pitching temps for my smack pack or white labs vial.


What kind of yeast are you using?

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I bought to go with a stout kit that I'm going to try to make later, but I'm not opposed to trashing the dry yeast and using the liquid for this batch of blonde if that would be recommended.

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I think plenty of people use dry yeast all of the time with no issues.

I'm not real familiar with them though.

Stir plate is nice to have but before I bought mine, I made starters from tiny amounts of yeast from the bottom of a belgian beer without a stir plate.

I typically mash one day and boil the next. I always take a 2 liter amount of my mashed wort, boil and use this to make my starter so my beer only has the grains I wanted in it...no DME. Typically a starter is ready to pitch in about 12 hours.

I always use Mr. malty LINK to calculate my starter size. I usually don't get quite as much starter as me malty says to use....it said I needed a 2.34 liter starter for my last brew. I used 2 liters.

You can let a starter sit a couple of ways.

1. Let it work overnight and then put it in the fridge. All the yeast will settle to the bottom. Take it out of the fridge on brew day and let it warm to the recommended fermentation temp...about 68. Before you pitch, slowly pour the liquid from your starter out into the sink....all the yeast is in the bottom. Leave enough liquid to swirl around and mix with the yeast and pitch this. This is a good technique when you have to make a big starter of 2 liters (*1/2 gallon) and don't want to pitch that much liquid into an already full carboy.

2. Or....you can just let the starter sit at around 68-72 degrees and pitch the whole thing on Sunday. Be sanitary...cover the starter with sanitized foil the whole time.

ETA: Like others have said, depending on your OG, you may not need a starter. I used to never make starters.

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You don't need a starter for US-05. Sprinkle it on top of your wort, shake the whole carboy and watch it take off within the next 12 hours.

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This.

Thanks for all the responses guys. Looks like this time I'll just sprinkle it in.

I have a glass carboy. By shaking it up, do you mean rocking it like a baby or should I put it in my truck and go hit some potholes?

I imagine that bitch is going to get pretty heavy.

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have a glass carboy. By shaking it up, do you mean rocking it like a baby or should I put it in my truck and go hit some potholes?

I imagine that bitch is going to get pretty heavy.

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Yeah, it's gonna be heavy as shite. But pick it up and shake it as best as you can. Those yeasties need oxygen, and by shaking it, you're giving it to them. Give it to them hard!

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I imagine that bitch is going to get pretty heavy.

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Yes, BE VERY CAREFUL with glass. Don't set it down too hard don't bump it against anything and don't shake it with wet hands. Those things almost WANT to break it seems. I've seen too many stitches and beershed over a glass carboy.

This thread has been very helpful. (For this starterless batch and for future batches that I use starters.)


I think I've decided the best way to shake it up. I'm going to buy a trampoline and blare "You're My Best Friend" by Queen while jumping with my carboy. If any of you would like to use my idea for future batches, I am fine with it.