Starter with Corn Sugar

**memphomaniac** · 08-30-2008, 07:19 PM

I was planning to brew a hefeweizen partial mash kit tomorrow, and I have a vial of White Labs yeast that I got through mail-order. I want to make a starter for it mostly to check the viability because I had trouble with a dead tube of WL that I received in the same order.

Never made a starter before, and I don't have any DME. My LHBS was closed last night and appears to be closed today. They run a sporadic schedule anyway and I doubt they will be back until Tuesday.

I have some corn sugar. Can I use that to make a starter, and if so how much should I use? Should I just use some of the liquid extract from the kit?

I've done some reading on this, but I haven't seen anybody suggest corn sugar as a starter. Your assistance is appreciated.

pava · 08-30-2008, 07:54 PM

I only have a couple of batches under my belt and I am far from having a solid grip on all of this (so hopefully some of the more seasoned folk around here will chime in shortly), but I don't think that this is really the way you want to go. From what I understand this will make your yeast somewhat lazy by allowing them to feed on simpler sugars you in affect 'train' them to expect to always be fed simple sugars. When you introduce them to wort which consists of more complex sugars they become somewhat stressed. I think they would still perform and fermentation would still occur, however, you may not get great attenuation and you may have some off flavors. Again, take this for what it is worth coming from another noob, and hopefully someone more knowledgeable will chime in with some more info.

**944play** · 08-30-2008, 08:08 PM

I would just use some of the LME from the kit. It's all going in the same fermenter anyway.

**memphomaniac** · 08-30-2008, 08:55 PM

Thanks, guys. I'm finding more on it now after I've posted. Funny how that happens. Will use the LME.