Yeast Starter using Mr.Beer Booster - let's settle this once and for all

[riteandritual]

OK, I want to reuse the yeast from my last brew. I have all these unused Mr.Beer booster packets and I'm running low on DME. All over the internet everyone says not to use the Booster packets for yeast starters, because they're sugar, and you want to start them yeasties on wort. However...

On the Mr.Beer website for their Booster packets, Mr.Beer - beer kits, home brewing systems, and microbrewery supplies - Mr.Beer - America's #1 Selling Home Brewing Systems - Mr.Beer Booster Pack, the ingredients are given as: "8% glucose, 56% maltose, 16% maltotriose, and 20% dextrins" providing "a full and balanced range of both fermentable and unfermentable sugars that is designed to mimic the carbohydrate profile of all-malt wort".

So, while I agree the Mr.Beer Boosters make for poor-but-drinkable beer, shouldn't the 56% maltose in the ingredients be enough to get my yeast suited for pitching?

 

[Calder]

OK, I want to reuse the yeast from my last brew.

If I re-use the yeast within a month I don't bother with a starter. Providing the original beer was good, I have no concerns with the yeast.

Only recommendation is use only about a quarter of the slurry from a beer for the next one.

Problem with Mr. Beer booster is that no-one really knows what is in it. Generally assumed to be dextrose and Matodextrin. I would suggest you use it up by adding a pack to every beer you make until they are gone. 1 pack (12 ozs), will add 5 gravity points to a 5 gallon batch.

 

[daksin]

If I re-use the yeast within a month I don't bother with a starter. Providing the original beer was good, I have no concerns with the yeast.

Only recommendation is use only about a quarter of the slurry from a beer for the next one.

Problem with Mr. Beer booster is that no-one really knows what is in it. Generally assumed to be dextrose and Matodextrin. I would suggest you use it up by adding a pack to every beer you make until they are gone. 1 pack (12 ozs), will add 5 gravity points to a 5 gallon batch.

I think he just gave a pretty good description of what it is. What I would do is this: use the boosters to make a bunch of yeast, but split them up and either refrigerate them or make glycerol stocks from them. Then use THOSE smaller amounts of yeast to make starters in the future.

 

[riteandritual]

I accidentally drank my last homebrew, so I ended up using dme to harvest the yeast from a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale...

Daksin, you rock! I had no idea you could freeze yeast and even less of an idea what glycerol stocks are. A quick look on google looks both promising and fascinating though... Thanks for putting me on a whole new subject of experimentation!


.... that said, do you think it would be alright to use a booster pack to up the % for an apple juice + honey mead? (Honey being so pricey.) Doesn't maltose (the main ingredient in MrBeer Booster) only appear in beers, not wines? But on the other hand, if the main complaint against it is that it's tasteless, couldn't I use it for mead?

I'm still pretty much a newbie, so I appreciate all your help.