starter question?

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dabull25

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I made my first starter for a hefe using 1/2 pound of lme. Do I subtract that from the total amount of LME the recipe calls for? It says use 6.6 lbs of Wheat LME, so should I take into account the amount of LME I used for my starter? Or just put in 6.6 lbs of LME into my boil?
 
Make the recipe as normal. Some people decant the spent wort from the flask, but that might not be an option for you at this point if you don't have time to crash cool it.
 
what's the volume of the starter? if it's just 1L then pour it all in, no big deal. much more than 1L and I think the general consensus is to try and decant off as much of the starter beer as possible, but that's not necessarily because of the effect it has on your OG, it's more because starter beer is nasty and you don't want that to affect the final flavor.

I keep DME around just for starters, coz it's easy to calculate how much you need. If the mrmalty calculator says you need 1L, then you divide by 10 and that's how many kg of dme you need (100g for 1L, 150g for 1.5L 200g for 2L, etc).
 
Why would "starter beer" be nasty? It's the same thing going on in your fermenter. Only smaller. I make starters for average gravity ales with 1 1/2C water & 1/4C DME About 1/3L). I stir & dump the whole thing.
No nastie puke beer here. But 1/3L isn't that much to worry about in regards to total volume. Not to mention,priming solution later of 2C+. You'd think it all adds up,but remember that things are subtracted along the way in regard to total volume. Other added to complete the thing.
 
unionrdr said:
Why would "starter beer" be nasty? It's the same thing going on in your fermenter. Only smaller. I make starters for average gravity ales with 1 1/2C water & 1/4C DME About 1/3L). I stir & dump the whole thing.
No nastie puke beer here. But 1/3L isn't that much to worry about in regards to total volume. Not to mention,priming solution later of 2C+. You'd think it all adds up,but remember that things are subtracted along the way in regard to total volume. Other added to complete the thing.

I think it has to do with the percentage of yeast vs. the percentage of starter wort... (ie, too much yeast makes nasty esters and off flavors imo). That's why my starters usually taste like fresh squeezed bananas
 
lastsecondapex said:
I think it has to do with the percentage of yeast vs. the percentage of starter wort... (ie, too much yeast makes nasty esters and off flavors imo). That's why my starters usually taste like fresh squeezed bananas

This, and because starters are generally fermented warm, leading to more off flavors. Not a big deal, but enough to make a difference in the end product.
 
Why would "starter beer" be nasty? It's the same thing going on in your fermenter. Only smaller. I make starters for average gravity ales with 1 1/2C water & 1/4C DME About 1/3L). I stir & dump the whole thing.
No nastie puke beer here. But 1/3L isn't that much to worry about in regards to total volume. Not to mention,priming solution later of 2C+. You'd think it all adds up,but remember that things are subtracted along the way in regard to total volume. Other added to complete the thing.

temperature of fermentation and oxidation is why.
 
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