So I've put the cart before the horse in a fit of impatience, and decided to try harvesting Pacman from Dead Guy bottles before having ever tried to make a starter the traditional way. Here's what I did (I originally posted this text in a thread regarding Pacman earlier today, in case it looks familiar):
I made up approximately 400ml of 1.040 wort in a mason jar, which I had boiled for 15 minutes to sanitize, and then stood up and "boiled" the wort for another 15 minutes. Though the wort in the mason jar never boiled proper, it did keep a consistant temperature of about 200f for at least 15 minutes, so I called it sanitized. I then cooled it to room temperature and poured the dregs of two 355ml bottles of Dead Guy (dated "L2811" which I interpreted as "packaged on December 28th, 2011") into the jar. I topped it with a piece of sanitized aluminum foil, loosely placed the ring on to keep bad stuff out, and went to bed. When I woke up this morning I had some lighter coloured (lighter than the wort, at least) sediment at the bottom, which I am unsure as to whether it is yeast or trub. Either way I swirled it back into suspension and came to work.
I am academically aware from reading that the lighter sediment on the bottom in a traditional starter is a yeast cake. Now, I'm also very aware that my Macguyvered process is also less than ideal for starter creation, and I have parts for a stir plate, an E-flask, etc on the way.
What is the best way to tell whether I've got a layer of trub sediment or yeast on the bottom of the jar? I looked for some sort of indication of CO2, but the foil/ring covering may have been loose enough that no CO2 would build up. Is there a reliable way for me to know if this has been a successful experiment, short of actually pitching the yeast? Might it be worth stepping up to 1L and somehow rigging an airlock to a mason jar to check for CO2 creation?
Thanks for your input everyone!
I made up approximately 400ml of 1.040 wort in a mason jar, which I had boiled for 15 minutes to sanitize, and then stood up and "boiled" the wort for another 15 minutes. Though the wort in the mason jar never boiled proper, it did keep a consistant temperature of about 200f for at least 15 minutes, so I called it sanitized. I then cooled it to room temperature and poured the dregs of two 355ml bottles of Dead Guy (dated "L2811" which I interpreted as "packaged on December 28th, 2011") into the jar. I topped it with a piece of sanitized aluminum foil, loosely placed the ring on to keep bad stuff out, and went to bed. When I woke up this morning I had some lighter coloured (lighter than the wort, at least) sediment at the bottom, which I am unsure as to whether it is yeast or trub. Either way I swirled it back into suspension and came to work.
I am academically aware from reading that the lighter sediment on the bottom in a traditional starter is a yeast cake. Now, I'm also very aware that my Macguyvered process is also less than ideal for starter creation, and I have parts for a stir plate, an E-flask, etc on the way.
What is the best way to tell whether I've got a layer of trub sediment or yeast on the bottom of the jar? I looked for some sort of indication of CO2, but the foil/ring covering may have been loose enough that no CO2 would build up. Is there a reliable way for me to know if this has been a successful experiment, short of actually pitching the yeast? Might it be worth stepping up to 1L and somehow rigging an airlock to a mason jar to check for CO2 creation?
Thanks for your input everyone!