making a starter without DME

YEA, is that possible? I would love to set up a starter for my beers (ever since I moved into all grain its given me a bit more $$ to spend on my yeast) but I don't want to buy DME.

is their anything else I can use to start up my yeast before I pitch it in?

skullface1818 said:

YEA, is that possible? I would love to set up a starter for my beers (ever since I moved into all grain its given me a bit more $$ to spend on my yeast) but I don't want to buy DME.

is their anything else I can use to start up my yeast before I pitch it in?

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You can make a wort of around 1.040 and use that. Just be sure to keep it simple, as in using only 2 row pale or pilsener malt. You can also make a high density wort and dilute it to 1.040 when you're making a starter (AB actually brews a high gravity beer and then dilutes it to achieve Budweiser). I like to add just a pinch of hops in order to help inoculate the wort against infection and so that the yeast get used to an environment with hops in it from the jump.

EDIT: for what it's worth, buying DME can actually be less expensive (and is certainly less of a hassle) than making a starter wort. Do the math and I think you'll see I'm right. In any event, good luck!

Just don't use plain sugar; it basically will train the yeast to only ferment simple sugars and ignore maltose. I'd just get DME, but you could also be brave and try Milk Duds.

Some people use a malt beverage found in grocery stores called Malto, I believe. You'll still want to make sure the OG of it is in the area of 1.040 before you use it though.

IF you buy the DME in more than 1# bags it's usually cheaper. Buy it from one of the online stores (shop around) and it becomes even cheaper. I've gotten 3# bags from both Williams and Rebel Brewer for far less than what the LHBS charges. Add it to your next order and you're set.

When ever I make a low gravity beer, like a mild, I usually make a few extra gallons. I store it in large freezer ziplocs in the freezer. On 'starter day', I simply set it out in the morning. By the time I get home from work, I can dump it in a pot, boil for 15 minutes, cool, and pitch.

8 pounds of the cheapest 2-row from the LHBS gets me 5 gallons of 1.040 wort.
That is the cheapest option for me at $8. When I start buying grain in bulk, this cost drops to $6. I can't seem to find DME for that price.
Since I can the wort, I don't need to boil, just mash and then collect in jars.

However, canning 5 gallons of wort is pretty much an 8 hour task. Luckily I only need to do it once every 9 months or so.

Golddiggie said:

Some people use a malt beverage found in grocery stores called Malto, I believe. You'll still want to make sure the OG of it is in the area of 1.040 before you use it though.

IF you buy the DME in more than 1# bags it's usually cheaper. Buy it from one of the online stores (shop around) and it becomes even cheaper. I've gotten 3# bags from both Williams and Rebel Brewer for far less than what the LHBS charges. Add it to your next order and you're set.

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I can just add sugar to it until its 1.04
that's not a bad option........I'm just kinda surprised that it actually works
is maltoo a malt powder, or is it already in liquid form?

Golddiggie said:

Some people use a malt beverage found in grocery stores called Malto, I believe

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skullface1818 said:

I can just add sugar to it until its 1.04
that's not a bad option........I'm just kinda surprised that it actually works
is maltoo a malt powder, or is it already in liquid form?

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It doesn't need to be 1.040. I target 1.030. Most yeast cos. use more like 1.020.

TyTanium said:

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Malta works quite well and it's stupid quick & easy. It's about 1.060 SG so I dilute to 1.030-1.040, boil for a few minutes and there you are. Think of Malta as unfermented Yuengling.

^^^^what does that cost?

I cant believe its that easy! whatever it costs its going to be cheaper than DME and should give off some interesting flavors to my brew.

thanks for the answer folks! I figure that you'd make a starter with 2 things of Malta? or would it just be better to use one bottle and then cut it with another bottle of water (poured into the empty Malta bottle) to bring its OG down to 1.030?
that seems very cost effective. o na side note, this also give me empty bottles to use for bottling!

Malts is uncarbonated. I wouldn't use those bottles under pressure.

Man that's genius of using Malta Goya. I might have to try that out. I don't have a pressure cooker so I can't can some starterwort. Might be better in the longrun to just get one, though.

Last time I needed a starter I didn't have any DME, I just did a mini-mash in my rice cooker and used that. Worked great.

Last time I needed a starter but had no DME I just borrowed enough LME from the recipe kit to make 1.5 L of 1.040 wort.

I pitched the whole starter without decanting and adjusted my boil volume so final volume to accounted for the starter.

Denny said:

Malts is uncarbonated. I wouldn't use those bottles under pressure.

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Malta is carbonated. It's sold as a soft drink and is similar in CO2 to a typical soda pop. The bottles are the same structure as other carbonated soft drinks.

The last time I brewed I threw some more water on the grains after my last sparge and still got a couple of quarts at 1.030. I will use it for the first step in a step up starter from 10 ml of frozen yeast.

If I used a little more water and boiled a little longer I would be able to get a 1.035- 1.040 wort.

BigEd said:

Malta is carbonated. It's sold as a soft drink and is similar in CO2 to a typical soda pop. The bottles are the same structure as other carbonated soft drinks.

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The one time I used it it wasn't carbed. Must have been something wrong with it.

If you're brewing all grain, after you sparge and reach your pre-boil volume, just sparge a little more to make a light wort... then boil that down to the gravity you want to use for your starter.
If you're sanitary in how you do this, you can save that wort for a while until you do your next batch.