Madtown Brew
Well-Known Member
Hi all.
Great forum here, seems like there are a lot of knowledgable members (gotta love the internets, a forum for everything).
Anyways, I was going to brew my first PM tonight (an attempt at something resembling a New Glarus "Fat Squirrel"), but things fell through and I didn't have the time. So, since I won't be able to brew until Sunday night at the earliest, I figured this would be a good time to try making a starter.
I have access to an autoclave, some 1200 ml fleakers, and some larger erlenmeyer flasks (2L maybe?) . I also have about 1.5 lbs. of pale LME leftover from a previous brew.
What would be the procedure for making a starter with this equipment? Can I just make up some 1.040 wort, autoclave it in the fleaker or flask w/ al. foil on it, and then pitch when cool? What pressure should I run the autoclave to and for how long? What's the easiest way to calculate how much LME to use for the volume? At what temp. do I let the yeast grow at? Does the flask need a stopper and airlock, or is al. foil good enough? How long until it needs a wort change? Help me obiwan kenobi you're my only hope. yadda yadda yadda
Backgorund (for those who care): I'm fairly new to brewing. Five extract batches under my belt and all but the first were great. Starting to crave more variety and control than just LME offers. No special equipment yet, but I did manage to make my own lauter tun outta 5 gal. buckets as shown in TCJOHB. I also just planted my first hops rhizomes about 2 wks ago (I know it's late, but I got an empty greenhouse to use and I'm a botany student so I'm pretty confident. Don't expect much this yr. though ).
Wow, that was a bit of brain diarrhea. Sorry for the length. Guess you can tell I've been lurking a bit and the questions have been bulding up .
Any help is appreciated, would like to get this going tomorrow at work some time as I'm the only one there on weekends usually.
Great forum here, seems like there are a lot of knowledgable members (gotta love the internets, a forum for everything).
Anyways, I was going to brew my first PM tonight (an attempt at something resembling a New Glarus "Fat Squirrel"), but things fell through and I didn't have the time. So, since I won't be able to brew until Sunday night at the earliest, I figured this would be a good time to try making a starter.
I have access to an autoclave, some 1200 ml fleakers, and some larger erlenmeyer flasks (2L maybe?) . I also have about 1.5 lbs. of pale LME leftover from a previous brew.
What would be the procedure for making a starter with this equipment? Can I just make up some 1.040 wort, autoclave it in the fleaker or flask w/ al. foil on it, and then pitch when cool? What pressure should I run the autoclave to and for how long? What's the easiest way to calculate how much LME to use for the volume? At what temp. do I let the yeast grow at? Does the flask need a stopper and airlock, or is al. foil good enough? How long until it needs a wort change? Help me obiwan kenobi you're my only hope. yadda yadda yadda
Backgorund (for those who care): I'm fairly new to brewing. Five extract batches under my belt and all but the first were great. Starting to crave more variety and control than just LME offers. No special equipment yet, but I did manage to make my own lauter tun outta 5 gal. buckets as shown in TCJOHB. I also just planted my first hops rhizomes about 2 wks ago (I know it's late, but I got an empty greenhouse to use and I'm a botany student so I'm pretty confident. Don't expect much this yr. though ).
Wow, that was a bit of brain diarrhea. Sorry for the length. Guess you can tell I've been lurking a bit and the questions have been bulding up .
Any help is appreciated, would like to get this going tomorrow at work some time as I'm the only one there on weekends usually.