Bought a flask and some DME. I'm brewing Friday afternoon/evening. Should I prepare the started tonight or tomorrow? I've read everything from pitching at high krausen to 24-48 hours to pitching, then refrigerating to let it settle and pour off the extra wort etc.
Advice?
also:
a) I am going to boil directly in the flask. Does it still require sanitizing
b) I've read preparing DME in room temp H2O prevents clumping. Can I prepare the DME before boiling or is it better to at least use hot water then bringing to a boil
c) Is it necessary to somehow sanitize the lip of the WL yeast tube? Similar to cutting open yeast packs with sanitized scissors?
THANKS! Having a blast preparing for brew day.
I tend to prepare all of my starters with enough time to grow, chill, flocculate, decant and then pitch a slurry. I just do it out of habit, but you really don't need to do this for all beers, only lagers or other beers that have a delicate profile. Why? Because if you pitch the entire starter you toss in all of the lovely yeast, but also the fermented wort from the starter. This stuff could add an off-flavor.
I have pitched starters at high kraeusen and have had great results as well (smaller starters with darker beer). But, you really don't want to pitch the entire starter when you have a large starter.
To your other Qs:
a) I am going to boil directly in the flask. Does it still require sanitizing.
Nope, the heat will do the sanitizing. Just make sure your flask is properly cleaned.
b) I've read preparing DME in room temp H2O prevents clumping. Can I prepare the DME before boiling or is it better to at least use hot water then bringing to a boil
The DME will dissolve regardless, don't sweat it. Add it to warm water and swirl the flask. After a 15 min boil it will a-ok.
c) Is it necessary to somehow sanitize the lip of the WL yeast tube? Similar to cutting open yeast packs with sanitized scissors?
I do. I dip the yeast package (tube or smack pack) in Star San and make sure that anything that touches the packet or the flask AFTER the boil has been sanitized.
A few more thoughts:
Remember, the intention of a starter is to create yeast, not make beer. So don't worry about adding hops - it's not necessary. In fact, hop oils will end up inhibiting yeast growth.
Make a starter that has an SG of about 1.040.
Read this:
http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter6-5.html
Hope this helped. Happy brewing.