Erlenmeyer? No.

So the advantage of an Erlenmeyer is that it has a narrow neck so which reduces the risk of contamination.

I'm going to save $10 and use a Mason jar with a bit of flame-sterilized Aluminium foil over the top. Might even be legal in Texas.

Unless you all can persuade me otherwise

The erlenmeyer also has a nice flat bottom that won't throw the stir bar. Sometimes it's hard to get the stir bar to stay put in a jar/jug.

I use a Simply Orange plastic 63ish oz jug. Works just fine.

Simply Orange? I don't drink stuff like that, it looks almost healthy.

I am not persuaded, try harder

The nice thing about a Erlenmeyer is it looks cool. The advantage is that you have less boil off because of the narrow neck and you can heat and chill in the same container and it does hold a stirbar. I tend to boil my starter in a saucepan and transfer to a Erlenmeyer if I'm doing less or equal to a 1 ¾ liter starter since my largest Erlenmeyer is 2 liter. When I make a larger starter I use a 1 gallon pickle jar or if larger you can use a plastic storage container. Just look around the house or store for an appropriate container. The disadvantage to the saucepan method is you will have more boil off due to the larger surface area. But you just take it into your calculations.

Erlenmeyer can go from stove to ice bath without exploding, and has accurate measuring marks.

Edit: Dont take my word for it regarding exploding. I may be wrong, see below.

The advantage of a Erlenmeyer, as nm999 pointed out, is the flat bottom that lets you spin stupidly large stir bars without stupidly powerful magnets.

Also, you can boil and chill in them if they're borosilicate. They can be sterilized in the oven, in a pressure cooker, or autoclaved. You can scrub the crap out of them without creating huge gouges for bacteria to harbor in, unlike the Simply Orange jug mentioned.

Last but not least, the larger ones can be used for home defense.

The biggest advantage I see to the flask is the ability to boil, cool and ferment your starter in 1 vessel. I believe the reduced possibility of infection comes more from this fact than the shape. Flame and steam do a better job than star-san can. I made plenty of starters that were just fine without the flask, as I'm sure you do, but the one vessel part really is convenient!!

Also, if you end up with a stir plate you need a flat bottom that jars/growlers usually don't have.

LabRatBrewer said:

Erlenmeyer can go from stove to ice bath without exploding, and has accurate measuring marks.

Click to expand...

It may or may not explode and the measurement are suspect. Even the best can be off 5%. The best way to check your Erlenmeyer is to put it on a accurate scale and see how close it is.

Home defense? Ah yes, the Erlenmeyer makes an excellent Molotov cocktail. In between revolutionary uprisings the Erlenmeyer could make a handy wine decanter.

Sterilization by means of boiling or baking seems like sound reasoning. I am not sure I could get away with borrowing the pyrex measuring jug for days at a time.

The yeast doesn't care what you make the starter in. The flask is convenient, and it looks cool, but a starter can be made in any vessel that can hold liquid. I've seen everything, including beer glasses being used. A mason jar works just skiffy.

alien said:

Home defense? Ah yes, the Erlenmeyer makes an excellent Molotov cocktail. In between revolutionary uprisings the Erlenmeyer could make a handy wine decanter.

Click to expand...

Long neck beer bottles can be used as a deadly weapon. This one's a little extra tall... a Guiness bottle.

Bombers are make you look like a glass-wielding gorilla. I think this was a Knee Deep Hoptologist.

A 5L Erlenmeyer is the nuclear option. It's a lot of glass to dig out of the your face. Can easily knock people out with its heft if hit from behind.



(excuse my desk, I was making stir plates at it)

I switched from a mason jar to a flask because of the curved bottom of the jar. The flask was the only thing I could find with a flat bottom, and I bought an off-brand and saved a ton. It's made from borosilicate, but I still don't boil and cool in it.

BTW, flame sanitizing your foil isn't particularly necessary. A quick dip in Starsan, and you're good to go.

Just in case anybody's interested, that 5000ml is on Amazon for $46 shipped via Prime. I've seen them up to $70 shipped.

Arrived double-boxed. Takes a #12 stopper. I'll be ditching the foil soon for a foam stopper. Very heavy, very sturdy. This one's thicker and heavier than the one sold at my LHBS (didn't know it would be til it arrived). Stove tested it last night, then sprayed it down with hot water, then cold water, then into an ice bath. Handled the thermal shock fine.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006UKI9X4/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

It's a monster!

alien said:

So the advantage of an Erlenmeyer is that it has a narrow neck so which reduces the risk of contamination.

I'm going to save $10 and use a Mason jar with a bit of flame-sterilized Aluminium foil over the top. Might even be legal in Texas.

Unless you all can persuade me otherwise

Click to expand...

No, the advantage of an Erlenmeyer is that you can boil the starter right on the stove, chill it down right in the flask, and add the yeast.

The next advantage is you get a nice vortex and don't throw the stirbar.

iaefebs said:

It may or may not explode and the measurement are suspect. Even the best can be off 5%. The best way to check your Erlenmeyer is to put it on a accurate scale and see how close it is.

Click to expand...

How do you know when it is safe to go from heat to ice? Is it ever safe? I've done it many times without incident but of course that proves nothing. I've googled, but just keep finding, "thermoshock resistant", which is not shock proof.

Another advantage according to a seller: The advantage to the Erlenmeyer Flask is that the bottom is wider than the top so it will heat quicker because of the greater surface area exposed to the heat.

Judgement call.

My routine seems to be leave it for a few minutes after flameout, then get the kitchen hose sprayer and spray it with hot water, then warm water, then cold water, then into a cold water bath, then add ice. Whole process takes maybe 10 minutes.

I don't think we're terribly worried about the temperature difference between the wort and the chill water. We're worried about the temperature difference between the glass and the chill water. Stepping it down with the hose sprayer seems to work for me. By the time it's in the ice bath, a 5L starter is probably still at 190-200F. Mine took almost an hour and three sink fulls of 58F water to cool last night. :\

TheZymurgist said:

I switched from a mason jar to a flask because of the curved bottom of the jar. The flask was the only thing I could find with a flat bottom, and I bought an off-brand and saved a ton. It's made from borosilicate, but I still don't boil and cool in it.

BTW, flame sanitizing your foil isn't particularly necessary. A quick dip in Starsan, and you're good to go.

Click to expand...

I bought an off brand flask and the damn thing broke the first time I tried heating in it. I didn't even put it cold water. I won't get anything but Kimax or Pyrex from now on.

Yooper said:

No, the advantage of an Erlenmeyer is that you can boil the starter right on the stove, chill it down right in the flask, and add the yeast.

The next advantage is you get a nice vortex and don't throw the stirbar.

Click to expand...

Why not a flat bottomed pyrex jug or beaker then.

Jugs and beakers work, but they have two drawbacks.

Jugs are difficult to clean, especially inside near the handle. Most aren't flat bottomed. I have five cider jugs with huge humps in the bottom that I can make work on my stir plates, but its a real pain to get the stir bar up the hump, even with 1/2" rare earth class 50 magnets. Hard in clear water, even harder when full of murky wort.

The only disadvantages I can think of with beakers is that foam stoppers obviously are out (so use foil), but mainly that they're straight walled. When decanting, straight walls don't help hold the yeast cake inside.

My first starter jugs were $2 round plastic pitchers with straight walls. Shake, shake, boom! Yeasty explosion. They're now my DME and Dextrose containers.

Very interesting. Thanks for the insights.

Alright, I think your combined efforts may have persuaded me. I'm off to rob Sigma Aldrich. Just kidding, I'm off to rob a biology student.

I'm on my second Pyrex 2L erlenmeyer and try not to test its thermal shock resistance if I can help it.

The first one lasted about 15 boils on my small camping stove. It cracked during early heating of a batch. I assume the burner was running a smidge too high. It had been well cared for. No bumps or bruises. I start with warm water and dme. Only about 5 ice baths, as I usually allow a few minutes cooling and then place it on a towel in the fridge for slow cool down.

So, even Pyrex can suffer from thermal shock failure. I heat and cool my new one VERY slowly.

I don't think this was mentioned before, but the shape of the flask allows you to swirl it without the contents splashing out. I don't have a stir bar, so when I make a starter in a glass jug, I just shake/swirl the hell out of the thing every once in a while

raouliii said:

So, even Pyrex can suffer from thermal shock failure. I heat and cool my new one VERY slowly.

Click to expand...

When I was a schoolboy, we would diffuse the heat from a bunsen burner with a good old... asbestos mat.

alien said:

When I was a schoolboy, we would diffuse the heat from a bunsen burner with a good old... asbestos mat.

Click to expand...

A diffuser is a great idea. Something like this might be just the ticket. The burner on my coleman stove tends to direct the flame towards the 1/3 of the bottom nearest the edge of the flask, which I believe contributed to the breakage.

Actually I am going senile, the asbestos mat went under the burner and the diffuser was a metal gauze. But the idea was the same, to protect the glassware.

Funny, I was just learning about making starters last night and came here to find out more about which erlenmeyer to buy.

I have a couple extra stoppers around, #6 and #7 I believe. Any recommendation as to which erlen will work with either? I'm thinking 2L at the largest.

raouliii said:

A diffuser is a great idea. Something like this might be just the ticket. The burner on my coleman stove tends to direct the flame towards the 1/3 of the bottom nearest the edge of the flask, which I believe contributed to the breakage.

Click to expand...

I use one of these - distributes the heat quite well.

Watch out for so-called "student grade" lab glassware. Those are "scratch & dent" items culled out by the mfr's quality control and sold at lower prices to schools, individuals, etc. You'll find plenty of them on Amazon. I bought one (2000ml Erlenmeyer), had lots of little scratches in the glass. Those scratches quickly turn to cracks. Mine did.

I brew 10 gal batches and I use a 5000 ML Pyrex erlenmeyer. The larger size works great for 2500 ML starters. Keeps eruptions to a minimum except with WPL 001. I boil in a sauce pan then transfer to the flask and add yeast. Been using the same flask for 5 years. Flat bottom works great with a stir bar as well.

michael_mus said:

Funny, I was just learning about making starters last night and came here to find out more about which erlenmeyer to buy.

I have a couple extra stoppers around, #6 and #7 I believe. Any recommendation as to which erlen will work with either? I'm thinking 2L at the largest.

Click to expand...

Stoppers are cheap. I wouldn't worry about buying a flask to match an existing stopper. I only use my stopper when the flask is empty to keep dust out.

Spartan1979 said:

Stoppers are cheap. I wouldn't worry about buying a flask to match an existing stopper. I only use my stopper when the flask is empty to keep dust out.

Click to expand...

Reasonable angle. Cost really isn't an issue, more of functionality and ease of use. I'd like to follow John Palmer's advice and put an airlock on top.

A better way to phrase the question is: Any brands or sizes to avoid? I want something that will work well with a standard stopper and airlock.

I got my pyrex 'flask' at the dollar store.



Lots of other coffee containers there, all with flat bottoms.

Love it.

I've read somewhere to put an o-ring on each end of the stir bar to prevent it from being thrown when the bottom is concave.

Paying absurd amounts for cool looking vessels is entirely up to the consumer.

Brew-ta-sauraus said:

I brew 10 gal batches and I use a 5000 ML Pyrex erlenmeyer. The larger size works great for 2500 ML starters. Keeps eruptions to a minimum except with WPL 001. I boil in a sauce pan then transfer to the flask and add yeast. Been using the same flask for 5 years. Flat bottom works great with a stir bar as well.

Click to expand...

Have a 5L starter going right now in a 5L flask. As in the pictures before. On a stir plate with a 2" stir bar, foaming isn't really an issue because of the sheer amount of liquid movement.

I checked it and crammed 6.8L of water into it before it got to the neck. Pretty sure I could make a 6.5L starter in the thing if I added a drop of two of FermCap-S every couple hours.

IslandLizard said:

I've read somewhere to put an o-ring on each end of the stir bar to prevent it from being thrown when the bottom is concave.

Paying absurd amounts for cool looking vessels is entirely up to the consumer.

Click to expand...

I need to get some o rings. I have one of the stir bars with the donut in the middle to promote spinning, but it makes an awful racket when it spins! I think that might help my prob. Oh btw I use a plastic beer pitcher for my starter vessel with sanitized foil for a cover. The bottom is perfectly flat.

iaefebs said:

The nice thing about a Erlenmeyer is it looks cool. The advantage is that you have less boil off because of the narrow neck and you can heat and chill in the same container and it does hold a stirbar. I tend to boil my starter in a saucepan and transfer to a Erlenmeyer if I'm doing less or equal to a 1 ¾ liter starter since my largest Erlenmeyer is 2 liter. When I make a larger starter I use a 1 gallon pickle jar or if larger you can use a plastic storage container. Just look around the house or store for an appropriate container. The disadvantage to the saucepan method is you will have more boil off due to the larger surface area. But you just take it into your calculations.

Click to expand...

Agreed and...science! It makes you look like a mad effing scientist. What more persuasion could you need?

Science wills it!!!

Decanting a large starter is a lot easier with an Erlenmeyer flask. There have been a few big lager starters that I was certainly glad that I had flask, plus the graduated marking make it very convenient. If you search around there’s some reasonable prices. But you really don't need one, there's less expensive options out there like Mason jars, growlers, etc.

What it all comes down to is finding something that works for you and is in your price range. If it works, great. If not, find something that does.