Experimenting with a Cake Starter

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LCE

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Hi,
I wasn't sure where to place this post. If its in the wrong spot Please excuse me.
Being new to Homebrewing and having only brewed two gallons worth of anything,by strictly following the recipe in front of me I have yet to step out of my comfort zone and try to experiment.
I have some starter from a Friendship Cake recipe(I don't know if anyone is familiar with that or not?)that I was wondering if it could be incorporated into a Wine or Mead for flavor some how?
I thought of using it to flavor a Mead but am not sure how or when I would incorporate it?

Wondering if anybody has any good ideas or suggestions? or is this a stupid idea?

If nobody is familiar with this Cake I will try and post the recipe so you can get a feel for what I am talking about.

Any help would be greatly Appreciated
Thank You
 
I don't know that you'd get stellar results from it, but it would likely work. I've never eaten friendship bread, so I don't know what it tastes like, but it sounds like it's pretty much a sourdough starter. I doubt it would be significantly different than if you just used bread yeast.

But hey, it might be significantly different, and it might be interesting... I'd probably save that experiment for later after you've done a couple batches so you have a baseline to compare it against.
 
It is a sourdough starter, (my wife and I regularly make Amish Friendship bread) and as such it contains both saccharomyces yeast and lactic acid producing yeast and/or bacteria. You might end up with something akin to a "Belgian sour mead" if you try it.

If that is the effect you're after, I'd say give it a shot. You'll at least be able to tell us what you end up with. :)
 
Hi,
This isn't a Sourdough Starter...
It is more of a Brandied Fruitcake.
The starter is made from Fruit and sugar which is left to sit for 30 days. Leaving a brandied syrup which is then used over and over again to make the next batch of cake.

This might change things a bit.

Thanks for the help
Les
 
Ahh, that is different from the bread starter -- I would think that it is going to be a sourdough starter eventually, since if you allow it to stand exposed to the air, you'll get native yeasts to grow in the liquid that forms from the fruit.

I'm curious enough about this one to ask -- would you mind sending me a PM with the full recipe? Thanks!
 
Don't pm the recipe..post it, so we can get an idea...

I actually had a resource is it WAS a sour starter...The Aussies on Craftbrewer Radio use sour cream in a Lambic, and just talked about it on the recent podcast...

But since this is something else...it sounds more intriguing...though I don't understand if the stuff is fermenting...does it have yeast?

THis might be something for a big beer like a Barleywine or something.
 
Hi wayneb and Revvy,

Here's the recipe...

First Day:
1 1/2 cups starter
2 1/2 cups sugar
1- 20 oz. can of peaches, chopped with juice
Stir once a day for 10 days.

10th Day:
2 1/2 cups sugar
1- 20 oz. can of pineapple, chopped with juice
Stir once a day for 10 days.

20th Day:
2 1/2 cups sugar
1- 16 oz. jar of Marachino Cherries, drained and chopped
Stir once a day for 10 days.

30th Day:
Drain Fruit, reserve juice which is starter for next batch.
Preheat oven to 325

Mix together;
3 boxes white or yellow cake mix(no pudding)
3 boxes instant vanilla pudding mix(4 oz. size)
1 dozen eggs
2 cups oil
Mix together
Add 3 cups chopped walnuts
Then mix in drained fruit.
Bake in loaf pan until toothpick comes clean.
May fall in center
"Save juice from fruit this is the starter"

I keep the starter refrigerated until the next time I want to make the cake. Has lasted years.
There is no yeast added only what forms naturally like wayneb mentioned.
Once done the starter has a great brandied fruit taste.
 
Revvy, great suggestion that he post it for everyone!

OK, Les -

Based on this recipe, you are propagating a "sour mash" starter by allowing it to grow in the fruit-liquid-sugar nutrient medium, and then using some of it for the cake, and the rest as the seed for your next starter.

I'd be willing to bet that you're going to find that you have a mixture of saccharomyces and brettanomyces in there, along with possibly some lactic bacteria.

I'd expect this to work in the same way, in a mead, as the sour starter for my Amish Bread, or any sourdough bread, would work.
 
I'd be willing to bet that you're going to find that you have a mixture of saccharomyces and brettanomyces in there, along with possibly some lactic bacteria.

Hey,
Your going to make me pull out the dictionary arent you ;)

So are you saying it will work but wont be nothing to write home about?
How exactly would I incorporate it into a batch of Mead?
Im going to start another batch of Mead in the next few days and if its worth it I will make a batch with this stuff to compare.
 
I drank some starter years ago at my friends grandmas place during high school luch break. It was over ten years old ond still had fruit in it, it was strong!

I wondered if anyone else had heard of this stuff...
 
Revvy, great suggestion that he post it for everyone!

OK, Les -

Based on this recipe, you are propagating a "sour mash" starter by allowing it to grow in the fruit-liquid-sugar nutrient medium, and then using some of it for the cake, and the rest as the seed for your next starter.

I'd be willing to bet that you're going to find that you have a mixture of saccharomyces and brettanomyces in there, along with possibly some lactic bacteria.

I'd expect this to work in the same way, in a mead, as the sour starter for my Amish Bread, or any sourdough bread, would work.

Then basically my original thought was sound...if this IS a sour culture, then it might be interesting to explore in a Lambic...

The hosts of Craft Brewer radio, (the first homebrewing podcast (started on radio over 10 years ago, the hosts have 60 years of brewing experience combined, and do some weired crap) have talked on and off about using sour cream as a starter culture for lambics...they did a mango sour cream one a few years ago...

The show is a bit disjointed, and they cover a lot of topics but the dates they talk about the sour cream lambic is;

Last weeks, (Feb 6th 2009)

March 11th, 2007
Feb 25th 2007
Sept 24th 2005

One of them they went into great detail...

Their archves are at CraftBrewer Radio

I know nothing about brewing sour beers (they actually scare me :D) but it seems this cake starter might be a worthy thing to play with to make a lambic....


You guys make the lambic..and I'll make a cake, :D
 
I drank some starter years ago at my friends grandmas place during high school luch break. It was over ten years old ond still had fruit in it, it was strong!

I wondered if anyone else had heard of this stuff...

I vaguely remember friendship cake starters in the 70's, along with the pet rock, chia pets and growing your own bean sprouts...BUT I think what my family passed around as friendship cake starter was what we now would call a sourdough starter...I don't recall anything about fruit....I mean I remember as a kid my job was to feed the starter with more flour iirc.....
 
I vaguely remember friendship cake starters in the 70's, along with the pet rock, chia pets and growing your own bean sprouts...BUT I think what my family passed around as friendship cake starter was what we now would call a sourdough starter...I don't recall anything about fruit....I mean I remember as a kid my job was to feed the starter with more flour iirc.....


Yeah that sounds like Amish friendship bread I think. The stuff I drank was cherries and other fruit in a really strong tasting syrup. It was strong like a fortified wine and kind of scary to drink! It was probably made in the seventies! I think it was in a rusty cookie tin to boot, just awesome...

I started a sourdough starter today, all this sour talk got me thinking...
 
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