Starter for a Belgian Ale: My First One

I am going to make my first starter for a belgian ale. The OG is anticipated at 1.091.

I was told to add 1 cup of DME per liter of water and, with my 5 gallon batch, to add 4 cups of DME and 4 liters of water. This seems reasonable and the source is very reputable. But, I thought I'd post it here to peer review it.

Two questions . . .

First. Does this sound right?

Second. I was going to simply use the carboy hold the yeast and pitch the wort into the carboy. Why? I'm lazy. Any thoughts on this?

Thanks for the suggestions.

1. I've always used 1/2 cup DME to 1 pint water. I pulled that from the Palmer book, and it's always worked well for me. Go to www.mrmalty.com, enter the specifics for your recipe, and it will tell you how large of a starter you need. Once you've done that, just build up the starter to the recommended volume.

2. Is the carboy your primary? I don't see anything wrong with making your starter in there, per se, but you'll want to be able to swirl the yeast around to aerate them. I'm sure you "can" swirl a carboy, but if it's the glass kind it's going to be a pain. Personally, I use a 2L erlenmeyer flask for my starters, but you can use anything as long as it's sanitized well. Look for juice bottles, etc. that have an opening the same diameter as your bung.

Good luck!

Hoowahoo02 said:

Look for juice bottles, etc. that have an opening the same diameter as your bung.

Click to expand...

I have found that the stopper from my 5gal carboy fits perfectly into the top of a growler :rockin:

I made a similar Belgian using a 2.4L starter (about 1.040 OG) in a 3L Wild Irish Rose bottle (only cost me $10.50 and came with free bumwine). The beer turned out amazing