Making a starter -- size of vessel?

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1fastdoc

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So I'm reading the bad brewing techniques and I noticed one in there about using a half gallon growler for a 1.5 qt starter. Hmm...

I was planning on making a starter tonight, it will be the first time I do so, and I was going to make 1L in a 1L vessel that would allow perhaps 100-200cc of headspace and either cover it will some foil or cap it loosely.

This sounds like it might turn into something very bad that will make SWMBO mad at me.

What do you guys use for starters with regard to how much water and what size/type of container?

It's a Wyeast Propogator, American Wheat, for the record.
 
I usually make a 3/4 gal wort and ferment it in a gallon jug.

FWIW, it's arguable whether a 1L starter is really providing enough "fuel" for significant reproduction of the yeast cells already in that propogator pack.
 
I made one last night in a half gallon growler with 1 qt of water in it. This was with Wyeast. First time ive used this yeast.

Last time I used the same quantities only with WL liquid yeast. Fermentation took right off.

I used a cap and a airlock on my starter though.
 
cweston said:
I usually make a 3/4 gal wort and ferment it in a gallon jug.

FWIW, it's arguable whether a 1L starter is really providing enough "fuel" for significant reproduction of the yeast cells already in that propogator pack.


Hmm. Last time I just smacked it, let it sit for 3 hours and pitched it. This time I figured I'd actually follow the directions on the back and it said add it to 1L of boiled/cooled water.
 
1fastdoc said:
Hmm. Last time I just smacked it, let it sit for 3 hours and pitched it. This time I figured I'd actually follow the directions on the back and it said add it to 1L of boiled/cooled water.

You meant boiled/cooled wort, right? The idea of a starter is to do a small ferment in a small batch of wort, so that the yeast cells can reproduce in the starter rather than in your 5 gal wort when you pitch it. You need to give them some fuel (fermentable sugars).
 
I've been preparing my starters in a 1000 ml Erlenmyer. I've been using about 700 ml of water with 3/4 cup DME and yeast nutrient. Boil in the flask, cool and add the smack pack after it swells. I've been using a stopper with an airlock, but the permeable stoppers look like something I'll have to try out. 700 ml is on the ragged edge of a blowoff, depending on the particular yeast. I let the starter ferment for a couple days, carefully decant off the liquid and add another 700 ml of cooled boiled DME. Pitch it the next day. I also add yeast nutrient to my boils. I've been getting very rapid healthy fermentations. I'm probably going to go to a 2000 ml flask and a homemade stirrer and skip the second addition.
 
I have been using a half-gallon jug, but I just got myself a 2L Erlenmeyer flask and a magnetic stir plate. Going to try it out this weekend.
 
1fastdoc said:
Hmm, looks like I'm going to go find a larger glass.

Now I understand why Homebrew_99 told me to use Safale dry yeast.

Dry is definitely easier if the type of yeast you want is available dry.

To clarify, I didn't mean to suggest that a 1 L starter is worthless--it's better than pitching the smack-pack strainght into your wort. I guess what I meant to say is it might be debatable if it's worth the effort considering the rather modest amount of yeast cell reproduction it will yield. Aerating the crap out of it (like with a stir plate) would help a great deal (high O2 concentrations cause yeast cells to put more of their energy into reproduction). Assuming you don't have a stir plate, give it a good shake or swirl every now and then.
 
would using a 2 liter bottle from soda be ok to use for holding a starter? Seems much cheaper than 25$ for the conical flasks.
 
raceskier said:
I've been preparing my starters in a 1000 ml Erlenmyer. I've been using about 700 ml of water with 3/4 cup DME and yeast nutrient. Boil in the flask, cool and add the smack pack after it swells. I've been using a stopper with an airlock, but the permeable stoppers look like something I'll have to try out. 700 ml is on the ragged edge of a blowoff, depending on the particular yeast. I let the starter ferment for a couple days, carefully decant off the liquid and add another 700 ml of cooled boiled DME. Pitch it the next day. I also add yeast nutrient to my boils. I've been getting very rapid healthy fermentations. I'm probably going to go to a 2000 ml flask and a homemade stirrer and skip the second addition.

I think decanting off the spent wort and adding more is a bit overkill for 5 gallons...lol...maybe if you need 20 gallons, or something.

I use old spaghetti sauce jars with a #12 stopper and air lock. I boil 2/3 water of the jar volume, add in 1/3 cup DME, and pitch when its at 70°F. Cap it, shake the HELL out of it for 2-3 minutes, wait 48 hours swirling the yeast back into suspension a couple 2-3 times. That alone will give you a considerable amount of yeast over what a smack pack or WL tube has. Heck, WL tubes are (somehwat recklessly) pitchable w/o a starter!

At what point does your starter start to effect the taste of the brew? If you are pitching in 2L+ of basically plain beer - thats over a half gallon!!
 
After breaking my $65 5L flask I went to Walmart and bought a vase for $4. Now I make 6 quart starters that work on my stirplate...

Vaseflask3.jpg
 
sirsloop said:
At what point does your starter start to effect the taste of the brew? If you are pitching in 2L+ of basically plain beer - thats over a half gallon!!

If you chill the starter overnight (after it has fermented), the yeast cells will drop out of suspension and you can pour off the majority of the "bad beer" and just pitch the yeast.
 
Monster Mash, after seeing your insane rig, a vase is the last thing I would think you would use for a starter. :p
 
Monster Mash said:
After breaking my $65 5L flask I went to Walmart and bought a vase for $4. Now I make 6 quart starters that work on my stirplate...

That's a beautiful thing you have there. I was just searching through the forums wondering if there was some special reason erlenmeyer flasks are so favored besides being stove-worthy pyrex. I'm building a stirplate to save money and was wondering if I could get by using a growler or at least something cheaper than a pyrex flask.

Possibly the glass will be too thick on a growler for the stirplate. Will just have to find out tonight!
 
I have a 1 liter pyrex flask. I can put it right on the stove for the boil.

However, I usually do 1 lb of DME in a 1 gallon jug.
 
How about a using a wine bottle, 1/2 cup or more of xldme in 1 pint water, boil for 15-20 min's, cool to room temp, put the yeast smack pack or rehydrated dry yeast in well sanitized wine bottle, pour room temp wort on top and shake well, then put a airlock on wine bottle and let it go at room temp overnight or until it's done. Flame off the bottle wine bottle mouth when your ready to pitch the starter, use your newly made wort to thoroughly rinse the wine bottle so to get all the yeast slurry and pour into to your primary.
It's cheap and you may already have a wine bottle or two.
Just need to get the correct size plug with a hole for the wine bottles.
Cheers:mug:
 
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