Making a yeast starter

Evidently, my eyes are failing as I get older. Just got back from the homebrew shop and found out I had purchased Dried rice extract instead of DME. My old (from 2000?) starter instructions had me putting in 4 tbs of DME for a 500ml starter.

Does anyone know what the equivalent would be with the rice extract? I tasted a finger of it after I read my receipt, it doesn't taste very sweet... Can I use these interchangeably? I'm planning on brewing a malty brown ale, OG somewhere near 1055 or so. I assume I want the starter to be near the beer it will be pitched into.

I'm just getting back on the horse after having a kid 5 years ago (today, actually), I haven't brewed since 2003. Look forward to lurking and participating more.

Thanks for any help you guys can provide. I'll stop by the introduction area later this evening and formally say Hi.

You should be able to use it for your starter without issues. I would use the recommended 1:10 ratio as you would with malt extract. That would be 50 grams per 500 ml or about 1/4 cup. It doesn't have to be a precise amount. Here's a link to a popular site with lots of good info on starters:

http://www.mrmalty.com/pitching.php#D

A 500 ml starter is generally considered too small. Better than no starter at all, but not by much. Add some yeast nutrient if you have it on hand. Welcome aboard and good luck with your brew.

I use rice extract for all my starters, I like the lightness of it so as not to influence my beers. Just use it as you would DME

Thanks. I think I was panicking for nothing, the hydrometer had me a little low, but I'll start it over with a little more extract.

I usually ramp to 500 then to 2000 ml for my starters, but I can't find my 2L erlenmeyer, plus I don't have the lead time. I figure 500 is better than just using the small wyeast container.

Thanks for the feedback!

I made my first yeast starter this week... I boiled 1 cup DME in about 1 liter of water. By the time I poured this into my starter vessel, I was down to about 600 ml. Bummer! Now that it's bubbling away, I don't want to boil up a whole new batch to get it closer to 1000 ml. I'm also worried that my SG is way off now that it's 1 cup of DME in considerably less that 1 liter of water.

The yeast seem happy, but is this enough?

I will be sure to boil my DME in much more than the recommended final volume from now on.

Effington said:

I made my first yeast starter this week... I boiled 1 cup DME in about 1 liter of water. By the time I poured this into my starter vessel, I was down to about 600 ml. Bummer! Now that it's bubbling away, I don't want to boil up a whole new batch to get it closer to 1000 ml. I'm also worried that my SG is way off now that it's 1 cup of DME in considerably less that 1 liter of water.

The yeast seem happy, but is this enough?

I will be sure to boil my DME in much more than the recommended final volume from now on.

Click to expand...

Your starter will be fine. Not the optimum volume or wort concentration, but no harm done either and much better than no starter at all. One cup of DME is about what I use in my typical two liter starter. You should get better results if you make a larger starter. I boil my starters in a flask. You will generally boil off more volume in a wide pan than when using a flask due to the larger surface area of a saucepan. I do like to heat the water initially in a sauce pan while dissolving the DME, then transfer it to the flask for the boil. This is much less messy than trying to get the dry extract into the flask. That's some sticky stuff for sure and it has a huge affinity for water.

Catt22 said:

Your starter will be fine. Not the optimum volume or wort concentration, but no harm done either and much better than no starter at all. One cup of DME is about what I use in my typical two liter starter. You should get better results if you make a larger starter. I boil my starters in a flask. You will generally boil off more volume in a wide pan than when using a flask due to the larger surface area of a saucepan. I do like to heat the water initially in a sauce pan while dissolving the DME, then transfer it to the flask for the boil. This is much less messy than trying to get the dry extract into the flask. That's some sticky stuff for sure and it has a huge affinity for water.

Click to expand...

Thanks! I assume you boil the flask in a saucepan... if so, do you put water in the saucepan? Or do you just put the flask right on the burner??

I put the flask on the burner. You will want to use a trivet if you have an electric stove. A trivet is a wire grate that keeps the flask from touching the electric heating coils directly which can cause the glass to fracture. You can easily make a trivet out of a wire coat hanger. I made one in a star patern. You can also use a cast iron skillet as a trivet, but if you do this, remember that the skillet will get very hot and remain so for quite a while after you turn the stove off. Don't try to put water in the skillet with the flask. Just use the bare skillet. A skillet can also catch anything that may boil over. I don't use the skillet method, but I've read that others do and they like it. I use foam control in the starter to help prevent boil overs. It can get really messy if you do have a boil over. Never leave a boiling flask unattended on the stove. That's just common sense, but I made that mistake once and regretted it later big time.

I appreciate the response. I might try the cast iron skillet since i have one.

After letting my starter go for about a day, I came home and gave it a shake. Not surprisingly, I got a volcano in return... yeast and wort spraying out of the top of the airlock. Aye, I thought I was impressive with avoiding boil overs.

Oh crap...I should have cautioned you about that. I did the same thing long ago when first making starters. Back then I thought you were supposed to use and airlock and stopper which I was doing. I would now and then shake it up. Until one day I came home from work, took the airlock off and put my thumb over the stopper and shook it up. The force of the eruption blew the stopper out and most of the starter wound up on my kitchen ceiling. Good thing my face was out of the way. I could have lost an eye when that thing went volcanic. I now use a stir plate and don't stopper the flask. Foam control works during the boil and while the yeast is active. Good stuff and harmless to your beer.

What do you use to cover the flask then if not a stopper/airlock?

I use a foam stopper designed for this purpose. You can also just use a piece of tinfoil. When using the foil leave it slightly loose in order to permit the gas exchange. You want to allow CO2 to escape and Oxygen to enter the wort. It will do this naturally, but shaking or stirring speeds up the process. It's better to just swirl the flask rather than shaking it violently. This helps prevent the volcano thing.

Here's a source for the foam stoppers: http://www.northernbrewer.com/winem...wine-yeast-handling/foam-stopper-46-50mm.html
They are very inexpensive as you can see. They work perfectly and are resusable.