Saving Wort????

I am brewing a nice Scotish ale today, I have about 2 gallons of wort leftover, can I save this for future uses to do my yeast starters with? If so, do I just bottle it and put in the frige or what? Thanks for the help!!!

I've been meaning to do this but I never seem to have any wort left over. Get some freezer bags and keep it in the freezer- and yes use it for starters.

What am I failing to understand here? Why in the h3ll would you have wort left over? WTF?

yeah, how could you have wort "left over"? isn't your gravity off? why wouldn't you just boil longer...? this seems very odd to me.

Lou said:

this seems very odd to me.

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And me. Did you maybe boil per your hop schedule w/o boiling down to the pre hop volume?

Because I ran off more then I should have!!! In ProMash it tells you to stop once you have reached the runoff gravity for the beer I was making, well still had water left in my grains......so there you have it!! Water in grains equals a little extra wort!!!!!!!

The SG is probably very low if it's the last runnings. I wouldn't bother keeping it.

Hmmmmmm........so it's not worth keeping it then? Not even for a starter?

I guess I've never been one to let a software program tell me what to do . . . but I think that I might just go ahead and collect all the runnings . . . getting every last bit of those precious fermentable sugars out of the grain. Then, I would simply boil it down to the volume I was looking for. But then . . . I don't mind my brews being strong.

Interesting problem you have . . .

Nahhh, not a problem at all.......the brew turned out very nice with the right gravity and the correct amount into primary. My only problem is, do I or better yet can I save the 1-2gals of extra wort......

GABrewboy,

keep it. And there is nothing wrong with your system.

I have wort left over all the time. I have only a 30qt brew pot and stop running the lauter when I have 25qts. After that I run the lauter again, but collect the run-off in a gallon jug -> this may be used for future starters.

I boil down to 5.5 gal (21L). My primary holds only 18 L comfortably, but I whirlpool and like to stop before to much trub is sucked into the primary. This leaves about 3qts of wort in the brew pot. This wort is run through a paper towel to filter out the trub and frozen for starters or gyle for priming.

Last time I even had a much higher efficiency than usual but I decided to stick with the target gravity. So I diluted the wort and had even more left over. I guess I don't have to by DME for a long time.

Kai

GABrewboy said:

I am brewing a nice Scotish ale today, I have about 2 gallons of wort leftover, can I save this for future uses to do my yeast starters with? If so, do I just bottle it and put in the frige or what? Thanks for the help!!!

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When you say you have two gallons of wort, are you talking about two gallons of the final runnings from the mash tun, or two gallons left over from the brewpot post boil?

If you're talking about two gallons of final runnings, I wouldn't think it would be worth much...definately not high enough SG for a starter. If you're talking about two extra gallons from the brew pot...yes, keep it. I'd freeze it myself.

El Pistolero said:

If you're talking about two gallons of final runnings, I wouldn't think it would be worth much...definately not high enough SG for a starter. If you're talking about two extra gallons from the brew pot...yes, keep it. I'd freeze it myself.

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I guess if he's willing to put the time in, those two low-gravity gallons could be boiled down to a quart of starter wort to go into the freezer. If the weak wort were at 1.005, then reducing the amount of liquid by a factor of 8 (2 gal to 1 qt) should get it to around 1.040.

Well I am talking about 2 extra gallons that I had leftover from both the runnings and maybe a half gallon to gallon left over from post boil. I just tested the gravity on it and it reads 1.044. Is this worth keeping then?

1.044 is about perfect for starters.

Great!! Then I am keeping it......time to freeze what I have in the fridge now........ Thanks everyone!!!!!

freezing it isn't necesary. put it in sterile bombers and keep them in the fridge. i do this everytime for priming.

drengel said:

freezing it isn't necesary.

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That would depend on how long you want to keep them, wouldn't it?

well if youre into keeping frozen wort in your freezer for a year...then yeah. but why would you do that.

i don't see hopped sugar water saved in a sterile container going bad all that fast.

drengel said:

freezing it isn't necesary. put it in sterile bombers and keep them in the fridge. i do this everytime for priming.

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Yes, freezing might not be necessary. But when I collect left over wort or lauter runnings, I don't want to worry about sanitation. I just put it in zip-top bags, label and freeze it.

Kai

Mikey said:

The SG is probably very low if it's the last runnings. I wouldn't bother keeping it.

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I never measure exactly how much water I will need to run through my grains. I make sure I know my efficiency so that when I have the correct volume in my boil kettle, I can start boiling. However, I often have water leftover in my mash tun.

I have kept this leftover wort and brewed what I've heard is called a "short beer." The beer is less alcohol (obviously) but makes a great sessionable beer. Usually you'll only have a gallon or two, but you can experiment with it in ways that you might be unwilling to try with your 5/10 gallon batch. I find the beer turns out a bit crisper and lighter and is always good.

I just did a pumpkin spice beer, with the pumpkin in the mash. I had 2 gallons leftover and today I will boil it up, try some different hops, and also add some maple. It is always a fun experiment.