DME for Starter

SSBrew - 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
kingmatt

kingmatt

Hop Addict
HBT Supporter
Joined
Mar 26, 2010
Messages
1,477
Reaction score
1,876
Location
PA
Hello all, noob here with my first post! Love the site and have learned a lot about the brewing process so far, so thanks.

I am planning my first ever brew on Friday and am planning on making my starter on Tuesday night. I have read a few articles, and watched some videos on how to make a starter, but have a question about what DME to use. I know you want a light malt extract and am brewing a Kobayashi Wheat as my first brew, which call for 6lbs of "plain wheat" extract. Should I just use a cup of this for my starter or should I use a cup of a separate light DME?

Sorry if the question sounds stupid but I don't want to mess up the brew by using too little or too much DME with the addition of my starter.

Thanks in advance for the advice :mug:
 
I think either would be fine. Usually Wheat extract is 35% barley malt anyway. I personally use light DME for all of my starters.

Edit: And a full cup is too much. 3/4 cup in 1 quart should give you a gravity of 1.040 which is ideal for a starter.
 
kingmatt said:
Hello all, noob here with my first post! Love the site and have learned a lot about the brewing process so far, so thanks.

I am planning my first ever brew on Friday and am planning on making my starter on Tuesday night. I have read a few articles, and watched some videos on how to make a starter, but have a question about what DME to use. I know you want a light malt extract and am brewing a Kobayashi Wheat as my first brew, which call for 6lbs of "plain wheat" extract. Should I just use a cup of this for my starter or should I use a cup of a separate light DME?

Sorry if the question sounds stupid but I don't want to mess up the brew by using too little or too much DME with the addition of my starter.

Thanks in advance for the advice :mug:
Click to expand...

You can use either wheat extract or light dme for your wheat beer starter - for more info on starters check out www.mrmalty.com, lots of great info there.
 
You can use either one. No difference. RDWHAHB. :mug:



As far as doing your starter, if I were you, I would do it on Monday night. Give your starter time for the yeast to fall out of suspension so that you can decant. But, like I said above, if you have no idea what I am talking about as far as decanting, RDWHAHB and brew that beer. :D
 
I wouldn't use any of the LME, because your will be missing it from your recipe and you will have to open the LME and have it laying around. You can easily take 3/4 cup of DME, then seal the bag back up. It will keep a long time if kept dry. I don't bother with decanting; just pour it all in. I usually end up boiling under target volume anyway, so why add water if I can add beer.
 
Hey all, follow-up question: How long can I leave my activated Wyeast out before pitching it with my starter wort?

I am planning on making my starter on Tuesday night so I was going to activate my smack pack before I go to work and leave it sit out all day until I get home and start my wort; will that affect anything negatively?
 
You'll be fine. Its a good practice to leave it out for several hours to warm up to room temp anyway.
 

Similar threads

D
Advice/opinions on size of a yeast starter
Replies
3
Views
731
Dontdropthebeer
D
Barleycapable
50% DME + 50% Dextrose For a Starter?
Replies
2
Views
572
IslandLizard
IslandLizard
D
Starter for Belgian Quad?
Replies
17
Views
933
DuncB
D
odie
making a starter from saved yeast cake
Replies
26
Views
2K
odie
odie
CDS
Starter for lager (WY 2206)
Replies
4
Views
689
Steveruch
Steveruch
SSBrew 300

Latest posts

Back
Top