flask

I plan on making starters from now on. What kind of stores would I find erlenmeyer flasks in? Or other misc. equipment I might need. Thankee.

jerly said:

I plan on making starters from now on. What kind of stores would I find erlenmeyer flasks in? Or other misc. equipment I might need. Thankee.

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FWIW I make starters in a sanitized beer or wine bottle. (Well, I make the starter in a pan, technically, then cool it and pour it into the bottle through a sanitized funnel).

You might be able to find laboratory surplus stores. I used to build all kinds of... umm.... bubbling devices with gear purchased from a store that re-sold equipment from various city government divisions (street signs, lab glassware, etc, etc).

Also, a lot of homebrew shops actually carry this type of stuff, too. It might be listed under "testing equipment".

But, like cweston, I don't have any fancy/special gear for making starters. I just use a half gallon glass milk jug from the grocery store. The jug is returnable for a $1 deposit, but for $1 it makes a great starter container and the stoppers for my carboys fit into it perfectly.


-walker

Can you put those on the heat source like you can with some of those beakers. I want to make sanitation as easy as possible and would rather not have to transfer much. The milk jug sounds great, I don't know that I've ever seen one of those in the grocery stores around here though.

jerly said:

Can you put those on the heat source like you can with some of those beakers. I want to make sanitation as easy as possible and would rather not have to transfer much. The milk jug sounds great, I don't know that I've ever seen one of those in the grocery stores around here though.

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If you want to sanitize 'easily' (and more quickly) you'd be better off using a sanitizing solution rather than using heat!

anyway....

You can't put the beer bottles or milk-jugs DIRECTLY on a heat source, but you could put them into a pot of water and then slowly heat it up to boiling if you wanted.


-walker

I use huge mason jars. They have a wide mouth and work great.

I just meant to use the beaker itself as the vessel to boil the wort, cool it down then add the yeast directly to it. I'm sure I would use a solution before all of that to sanitize. That was one of the methods I read about for making yeast starters. I'm new to this, so I might be getting carried away.

ahhh..... I see what you meant by "transferring" now. You want a one-device starter set-up, so you are going to have to go with a pyrex flask.

nothing wrong with that, I guess, but it'll cost you more than any of the other solutions.... and we all know I am a cheap-a$$ mofo.

-walker

Walker said:

ahhh..... I see what you meant by "transferring" now. You want a one-device starter set-up, so you are going to have to go with a pyrex flask.

nothing wrong with that, I guess, but it'll cost you more than any of the other solutions.... and we all know I am a cheap-a$$ mofo.

-walker

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ain't nuthin wrong with being a cheap a$$ mofo. i actually enjoy it!

I have a 1 liter Erlenmeyer flask. I love it. Just clean it, put in the water and extract, boil, chill in the sink and then add the yeast. Put stopper in, shake, and then add airlock. All in one vessel.

I just checked online at http://www.indigo.com/glass/erlenmeyer-flasks.html
1 1L flask for $9, a box of 6 for $27. Plus tax and shipping.

I got a half gallon carboy and stopper with airlock for $6 at the local brew shop

Best place I have ever found for lab quality glassware is a store about 1 mile from my house. I never even thought of going there until I saw it mentioned on a Kiwi distilling website . . . here's the link

http://www.sciplus.com/category.cfm?subsection=4

budbo said:

I got a half gallon carboy and stopper with airlock for $6 at the local brew shop

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another person from o-town. omaha is representin!

I don't bother with boiling etc. for my starters. Just stir a couple of tablespoons of DME into some water, and pop in the yeast. All is sweet thus far...


(H|a> = E|a>
Eigenvalue equation for the Hamiltonian.
Anyone else a physicist?)