how do I "can" wort?

I have a 1 quart jar filled with Wort from today's brew. How do I can it? Does it need to be covered with water, or does steam suffice, and how long should it be cooking?
I also need some math help. If I have 1 qt, and the specific gravity is 1.052, how much water will I need to add to achieve 1.040?

I'm fairly sure you need a pressure cooker to can wort. I haven't done it, but I'd be super cautious myself. Botulism's a *****.

You have to pressure cooker can it for sure. There is a great step by step on here that I used to can 5 gallons of starter wort for my yeast starters.
One quart is not worth the trouble.

I just spent pretty much all day yesterday mashing and canning 5 gallons of starter wort.
Nate is right, there is no way I'd do it for just 1 quart.

Here's the link to the thread on how to do this.

Yeah, it's a pretty big time investment for the one day, but I have enough starter wort for at least a year of brewing.

wolfman_48442 said:

I just spent pretty much all day yesterday mashing and canning 5 gallons of starter wort.
Nate is right, there is no way I'd do it for just 1 quart.

Here's the link to the thread on how to do this.

Yeah, it's a pretty big time investment for the one day, but I have enough starter wort for at least a year of brewing.

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Yes, even though it seems easier than a typical brew day, wort canning day takes me longer as my pressure cooker holds only 7 quart jars and I will make 21 in total. Lots of time waiting for the cooker to cool properly.

From another thread where I posted my process:

• Make 5 gallons of wort - I used 10 lbs of grain (you could probably get away with 8)
• Wash mason jars; fill w/ warm water
• Pour out water; add 1/4 tsp of yeast nutrient, fill to neck with wort (1 inch head space)
• Wipe brim of jars with a damp cloth
• Fingertip tighten the lids
• Place jars in pressure cooker
• Add 3 qts of boiling water (you can add 2 tbsp of vinegar if you want to avoid water stains)
• Close cooker; heat on high until steam starts to vent
• Steam moderately for 10 minutes
• PLace the weighted regulator on the steam vent stem set for 15 psi (for my cooker that is fully weighted)
• Heat on high to medium high until regulator begins to rock
• Pressure cook for 15 minutes adjusting the flame so that the regulator rocks moderately. On my stove's largest burner, that's just below medium-low
• Remove cooker from burner and place on hot pad to cool. Do not use a wet towel to hasten the cooling. This could lead to boil overs in the jars inside as the pressure would change too quickly.
• After the pressure lid lock drops (about 45-50 min), remove the regulator and allow to stand for 10 more minutes
• Remove jars and fully tighten lids; allow to cool on a towel on countertop.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/canning-starter-wort-145763/

Thanks all for the great info.

My thinking was to adjust my brew recipe appropriately so that I have 2 qt extra wort, which I could later use for starter. I agree that the whole canning process is not worth the trouble for 2 quarts.
So how about freezing the extra wort, and then boiling for 10 min prior to use? That should work, right?

Freezing the wort for later and then giving it a pre-use boil will work great.

If I do a no-chill brew (usually during the winter months), I will often take off 2 quarts of the wort itself to use as the starter. I'll put this in the fridge for however long it takes to get down to 70F or so.

This is referred to around here as an RWS (Real Wort Starter).

Since I'm waiting 24 hours for the wort to chill anyway, this gives me enough time to put the RWS on a stirplate and pitch into the now cooled batch of wort.

No extra boiling or anything, but be mindful of good sanitation as normal.

vera said:

Thanks all for the great info.

My thinking was to adjust my brew recipe appropriately so that I have 2 qt extra wort, which I could later use for starter. I agree that the whole canning process is not worth the trouble for 2 quarts.
So how about freezing the extra wort, and then boiling for 10 min prior to use? That should work, right?

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If its just a short period, just stick it in your fridge.

If you are being cheap you can boil (in a double boiler) a jar with three time 24 hrs apart, this is called Tindalization which greatly reduces the number of bacteria in the sample to acceptable levels but this is a pain in the arse.

Here is a excerpt from wiki on sterilization.

Tindalization[6] /Tyndallization[7] named after John Tyndall is a lengthy process designed to reduce the level of activity of sporulating bacteria that are left by a simple boiling water method. The process involves boiling for a period (typically 20 minutes) at atmospheric pressure, cooling, incubating for a day, boiling, cooling, incubating for a day, boiling, cooling, incubating for a day, and finally boiling again. The three incubation periods are to allow heat-resistant spores surviving the previous boiling period to germinate to form the heat-sensitive vegetative (growing) stage, which can be killed by the next boiling step. This is effective because many spores are stimulated to grow by the heat shock. The procedure only works for media that can support bacterial growth - it will not sterilize plain water. Tindalization/tyndallization is ineffective against prions.

I can left over bits of wort all the time, I normally run off extra wort from my grain and reduce it to 1040 strength and then Pressure Cook it while I'm boiling my wort. The thirty dollar it cost for my pressure cooker was worth it, I save myself so much time and money. Being able to make a starter in less than 10 min is a real gain.

Clem

Clementine said:

The thirty dollar it cost for my pressure cooker was worth it, I save myself so much time and money. Being able to make a starter in less than 10 min is a real gain.

Clem

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Seriously, it takes all the pain out of making a starter. Once you do it you'll never go back.

wolfman_48442 said:

Freezing the wort for later and then giving it a pre-use boil will work great.

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This. Just freeze it, then thaw and boil for a few minutes for a starter.

can alot of wort with pressure cooker.
pop top, mix wort and yeast ( both from fridge), stir plate it. That's all.

No need to boil wort and let cool to pitching temp.

If there is an easier way to prepare starter wort than canning I don't know about it.. Once you have pressure cooked your quart jars of wort it is done. Put the quart jars in the pantry, in a closet or in your garage.
Here is an excellent tutorial for canning wort.
If you don't have a pressure cooker then freezing is the next best way to prepare large amounts of starter wort.

aubiecat said:

If there is an easier way to prepare starter wort than canning I don't know about it.. Once you have pressure cooked your quart jars of wort it is done. Put the quart jars in the pantry, in a closet or in your garage.
Here is an excellent tutorial for canning wort.
If you don't have a pressure cooker then freezing is the next best way to prepare large amounts of starter wort.

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That is a nice tutorial on the canning process, but if you are going to can why use DME? I use about $8 worth of grain to make 21 jar and you could probably get that down to $5 using cheap grain.

O.K. Question. I'm assuming most homebrewers that can wort use anywhere from 250 ml to 1000ml jars. If you can your wort and abide by Mr. Malty calculator you're most likely underpitching especially for lagers. Call me crazy but I'd rather face the inconveniences of making fresh starters that are have proper yeast amounts than canned starters that don't.

dragonbreath11 said:

O.K. Question. I'm assuming most homebrewers that can wort use anywhere from 250 ml to 1000ml jars. If you can your wort and abide by Mr. Malty calculator you're most likely underpitching especially for lagers. Call me crazy but I'd rather face the inconveniences of making fresh starters that are have proper yeast amounts than canned starters that don't.

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?? Canned wort is used to make starters. You can't can a starter. What?? So confused.

Dragonbreath and capbrew: we are not talking about canning or freezing a starter with yeast. We are talking about canning or freezing wort (without yeast) that will eventually be used to make a starter. This will eliminate having to purchase or even use DME. ;-)

vera said:

Dragonbreath and capbrew: we are not talking about canning or freezing a starter with yeast. We are talking about canning or freezing wort (without yeast) that will eventually be used to make a starter. This will eliminate having to purchase or even use DME. ;-)

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That's what Kap was alluding to.

vera said:

I also need some math help. If I have 1 qt, and the specific gravity is 1.052, how much water will I need to add to achieve 1.040?

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OP -
1 quart or 32 oz (1/4 gallon) w/1.052 should have 13 points of sugar (if you added enough water to get to 1 gallon). so 40/13=3 Thus you need 1/3d of a gallon for teh 1.052 to become 1.040 that's about 43 oz of water or 9oz more than you have (1+1/8cups).

1 cup should be close enough unless you don't want to be over 1.040 and woudl prefer to be under, then you 1+1/4th cups of water (or measure for 9oz).

Don't forget to give it a good stir.

joety said:

That is a nice tutorial on the canning process, but if you are going to can why use DME? I use about $8 worth of grain to make 21 jar and you could probably get that down to $5 using cheap grain.

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For me it's about convince. Mashing grain to get canning wort adds another step and clean up in the process.
3lbs. of DME is in the $12.00 range and, with careful measuring, you can get 17 quarts of starter out of that.
Price is about the only drawback I can find to the DME canning process.

dragonbreath11 said:

O.K. Question. I'm assuming most homebrewers that can wort use anywhere from 250 ml to 1000ml jars. If you can your wort and abide by Mr. Malty calculator you're most likely underpitching especially for lagers. Call me crazy but I'd rather face the inconveniences of making fresh starters that are have proper yeast amounts than canned starters that don't.

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I use quart jars so I get about 800ish mL in a jar.
So if I want to do a 1600mL starter, I use 2 jars.
Add the yeast to that just like you would any starter.

vera said:

Dragonbreath and capbrew: we are not talking about canning or freezing a starter with yeast. We are talking about canning or freezing wort (without yeast) that will eventually be used to make a starter. This will eliminate having to purchase or even use DME. ;-)

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Freezing or canning with yeast would just be sillyness. That's like trying to drink a frozen beer. Pure craziness!!

kapbrew13 said:

Freezing or canning with yeast would just be sillyness. That's like trying to drink a frozen beer. Pure craziness!!

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I didn't say anything about canning yeast. I was talking about canning wort and inferring how most homebrewers probably don't have huge pressure cookers and make small canned wort meaning if they later pitch a vial, for higher gravity beers especially, they will definitely underpitch. As one poster suggested it's really not worth the trouble unless you're willing to do 5 gallons worth but even then you better make sure your sterilization is 100% else your work and possibly your resulting beer will be suspect.

dragonbreath11 said:

O.K. Question. I'm assuming most homebrewers that can wort use anywhere from 250 ml to 1000ml jars. If you can your wort and abide by Mr. Malty calculator you're most likely underpitching especially for lagers. Call me crazy but I'd rather face the inconveniences of making fresh starters that are have proper yeast amounts than canned starters that don't.

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I think the confusion lies in this post and this line
The line, "If you can your wort and abide by Mr Marlty calculator you're most likely underpitching....."

I can 10 x 1L starter wort. I use 2 to make my 2L starter. So , how does one under pitch?

dragonbreath11 said:

O.K. Question. I'm assuming most homebrewers that can wort use anywhere from 250 ml to 1000ml jars. If you can your wort and abide by Mr. Malty calculator you're most likely underpitching especially for lagers. Call me crazy but I'd rather face the inconveniences of making fresh starters that are have proper yeast amounts than canned starters that don't.

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I'm going to call you crazy. I don't speak that milileter hogwash, but I use two quart jars for a 5 gallon batch and four quart jars for a ten gallon batch, which according to the honorable Mr. Malty, gets it done for normal gravity beers if you use a stir plate.

You are not limited to one jar, at least, not in my household.

joety said:

I'm going to call you crazy. I don't speak that milileter hogwash, but I use two quart jars for a 5 gallon batch and four quart jars for a ten gallon batch, which according to the honorable Mr. Malty, gets it done for normal gravity beers if you use a stir plate.

You are not limited to one jar, at least, not in my household.

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Ok that's what i thought I just assumed people were using single quart jars when pitch their starters.

BTW respectfully the metric system is not hogwash if anything the U.S. system is hogwash

dragonbreath11 said:

BTW respectfully the metric system is not hogwash if anything the U.S. system is hogwash

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Its a conspiracy. Why would I need both metric and standard sockets for assembling 1 thing? Manufacturers in bed with tool makers. Garsh!!!!

dragonbreath11 said:

Ok that's what i thought I just assumed people were using single quart jars when pitch their starters.

BTW respectfully the metric system is not hogwash if anything the U.S. system is hogwash

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Why do I think that might be a minority opinion in Jersey?

joety said:

Why do I think that might be a minority opinion in Jersey?

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You busting on Jersey?

kapbrew13 said:

You busting on Jersey?

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No, remember, I'm the guy who thinks the metric system is hogwash. Besides, my mom was from Jersey.

Edit: I do credit the metric system for getting me an extra five pounds in my european malt sacks, however.

There, back on topic.

joety said:

No, remember, I'm the guy who thinks the metric system is hogwash. Besides, my mom was from Jersey.

Edit: I do credit the metric system for getting me an extra five pounds in my european malt sacks, however.

There, back on topic.

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: )

I live in jerzey and I bust on it all the time. LOL.