starter gravity, cup and grams

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StMarcos

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WYEAST has on their website that 1/2c in a quart/liter will make a gravity of 1.040. I've been doing double that, 1/2 per pint ratio, as per howtobrew. I'm not sure I ever actually tested the gravity of the starter wort :(

I suppose I could use a scale... just didn't want to risk getting DME on my ohaus triple beam.

Which one is right?

http://www.wyeastlab.com/hb_makingastarter.cfm
 
I don't know as I always wiegh my powdered ingredients the densitiy changes too much from supplier to supplier and even in just how you measure the amount (how packed it gets). I would by a cheap digital scale for sticky messy stuff, DME is kinda like measureing powdered glue.

Clem
 
I have a cheap diet scale from bed bath and beyond cost me 5 bucks and its pretty much spot on to keep cost down. That being said I do 1 cup dme and 4 cups of water may not be super accurate but I don't sweat the small stuff imo
 
In "Brewing Classic Styles", Jamil and John propose a measure of 1:10 when using metric, 1g of DME to 10ml water, to give a 1.030-1.040 starter. That's what I've been using lately, plus a 1/4tsp yeast nutrient. They give the example for a 2L starter: add water to 200g DME until you reach 2L.

In US measurements, that's about 6oz (by weight) DME to 2 quarts water.

+1 on the digital scale. Mine was $15 at the local superstore; make sure yours does TARE (zero out the weight of your container), and can switch between english and metric standards.
 
Measured 1/2 cup of DME. Came in at 66g on the t-beam, +- 0.1g. Mixed w water to get 500mL. Roughly a pint, plus only used a flask, with +- 5%, although I suspect the accuracy is better than this....

Cole palmer precision hydrometer reads 1.045 at 80F, so corrected this is 1.047. So as far as I can tell, using John Palmer's 1/2c in a pint is making starters that are too high in gravity. WYEAST's would be low, but it's better to be low for propagation as far as I know. Maybe 1.03. My experiment was 66g in half a liter of wort, so about 130g in a liter, which is just about the right amount over the 1:10 metric dilution to get the sg to where we might want it, although, my my calcs, you should have a 0.8:10 dilution to get to 1.030sg.

What do you guys think? Care to chime in with yer own experiments? As much as peeps fret over yeast, pitching rates, etc. it would make sense that we get the wort gravity right.

The result here is that 1.047 is WELL out of the range for optimal yeast growth.....
 
StMarcos said:
Measured 1/2 cup of DME. Came in at 66g on the t-beam, +- 0.1g. Mixed w water to get 500mL. Roughly a pint, plus only used a flask, with +- 5%, although I suspect the accuracy is better than this....

Cole palmer precision hydrometer reads 1.045 at 80F, so corrected this is 1.047. So as far as I can tell, using John Palmer's 1/2c in a pint is making starters that are too high in gravity. WYEAST's would be low, but it's better to be low for propagation as far as I know. Maybe 1.03. My experiment was 66g in half a liter of wort, so about 130g in a liter, which is just about the right amount over the 1:10 metric dilution to get the sg to where we might want it, although, my my calcs, you should have a 0.8:10 dilution to get to 1.030sg.

What do you guys think? Care to chime in with yer own experiments? As much as peeps fret over yeast, pitching rates, etc. it would make sense that we get the wort gravity right.

The result here is that 1.047 is WELL out of the range for optimal yeast growth.....
Click to expand...

I made a starter the other day using 100gms DME to 1000ml water all measured precisely. Result was 1.044 confirmed with both hydrometer and refractometer.
 
StMarcos said:
Data point taken. You mean 1L solution or 1L water mixed? If I'm not mistaken, this is a wee bit high fer a sterter is it not?
Click to expand...

Yes 1000ml = 1L
I would have preferred around 1.035 but that is what I got from the recommended ratio and I did not want to stuff around adjusting the SG by adding water and possibly infecting it.
 
Ok, so this thread has really thrown me for a loop. I have never really paid much attention to my starters, they have always been the same recipe:

1600ml of water in my flask, boil water for about 10 mins, remove from heat, add 1 cup DME, stir well, return to heat boil for 10 mins, cool to 70 deg F, add yeast put on stir plate for 24 hours.

Depending on the type of beer I am brewing will determine how many vials of yeast go into the starter.

I just brewed a smoked scotch ale with an OG of 1.096 so I used the same recipe but with 4 vials of WLP028 Edinburgh Scottish Ale Yeast.

I also just brewed a Irish red ale with an OG of 1.055 so I used the same recipe but with 1 vial WLP004 Irish Ale Yeast.

Never had a problem with my starters or hitting my final gravity.

Am I messed up doing it this way?
 

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