beltbuckle
Well-Known Member
I had an unfortunate accident last night that destroyed my beloved 5000mL erlenmeyer flask. I'd only used it twice. But one thing that I discovered after I had bought it was that it wasn't big enough, and neither was my labratory-surplus stir plate I had purchased off eBay.
Oops.
You see, I do 10 gallon all-grain batches, and for bigger beers, say 1060+ (which is pretty much 80% what I have been brewing), I'd always wanted to create a starter that had the cell count that followed Mr. Malty (JZ's) or WL or Wyeast's recommendations. What I discovered after I bought my 5000mL flask was that if I wanted to use a single smack pack or vial of yeast to inoculate 10 gallons+ of wort, I couldn't make the required cell count with what I had. Sure, I could make a good starter, but not good enough.
For an example, this Sunday I will be brewing 10 gallons of Dean Larson's Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale clone. It has an OG of around 1064. Running the numbers through Mr. Malty, it says I need about a 7 liter starter if I start from one Wyeast Activator pack. 7000mL? Yep. That's a big ass starter.
So after my flask broke, I decided I would do it right. I looked at larger flasks, but to tell the truth I wasn't that crazy about glass since it was so fragile. I considered HDPE or PETE plastic, but that adds a transfer or starter wort, and another chance for infection. So I went to a local restaurant supply store, and for about $25 I came home with a 12 quart aluminum stock pot and lid. I purchased an aluminum one since I do use a home-made Binford 9000 (120v A/C, 3 amp motor) bigass stir plate, and needed a non-ferrous metal or plastic vessel for the starter to avoid magnetic field issues.
I tested it with water, not sure if it would work or even pull a vortex with such a large amount of liquid. It did. Not a Wizard-of-Oz -Tornado, but a nice little vortex that would surely keep yeast suspended. Good enough.
So I scrubbed it with Oxy-clean, added the 7L of water and 700 grams of DME, and boiled the wort for 20 minutes.
Nice thing I discovered with this setup is that it cools much faster that my old flask. Aluminum is such a good conductor I bet it cooled to pitching temps twice as fast.
It's now on the strir plate, ready to brew on Sunday. I put a SNPA bottle on there to show scale.
Oops.
You see, I do 10 gallon all-grain batches, and for bigger beers, say 1060+ (which is pretty much 80% what I have been brewing), I'd always wanted to create a starter that had the cell count that followed Mr. Malty (JZ's) or WL or Wyeast's recommendations. What I discovered after I bought my 5000mL flask was that if I wanted to use a single smack pack or vial of yeast to inoculate 10 gallons+ of wort, I couldn't make the required cell count with what I had. Sure, I could make a good starter, but not good enough.
For an example, this Sunday I will be brewing 10 gallons of Dean Larson's Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale clone. It has an OG of around 1064. Running the numbers through Mr. Malty, it says I need about a 7 liter starter if I start from one Wyeast Activator pack. 7000mL? Yep. That's a big ass starter.
So after my flask broke, I decided I would do it right. I looked at larger flasks, but to tell the truth I wasn't that crazy about glass since it was so fragile. I considered HDPE or PETE plastic, but that adds a transfer or starter wort, and another chance for infection. So I went to a local restaurant supply store, and for about $25 I came home with a 12 quart aluminum stock pot and lid. I purchased an aluminum one since I do use a home-made Binford 9000 (120v A/C, 3 amp motor) bigass stir plate, and needed a non-ferrous metal or plastic vessel for the starter to avoid magnetic field issues.
I tested it with water, not sure if it would work or even pull a vortex with such a large amount of liquid. It did. Not a Wizard-of-Oz -Tornado, but a nice little vortex that would surely keep yeast suspended. Good enough.
So I scrubbed it with Oxy-clean, added the 7L of water and 700 grams of DME, and boiled the wort for 20 minutes.
Nice thing I discovered with this setup is that it cools much faster that my old flask. Aluminum is such a good conductor I bet it cooled to pitching temps twice as fast.
It's now on the strir plate, ready to brew on Sunday. I put a SNPA bottle on there to show scale.