DME for yeast starter

I am going to make a yeast starter when I start my Wee Heavy Scotch Ale in the coming weeks. What kind of DME do I want to use? If the ale has a OG of 1083, how much of yeast starter am I going to want to pitch? Does two liters sound about right? Can I make the two liter wort right from the get-go, or do I need to build up to two liters?

Sorry for all the questions and thanks for the help.

Whatever DME you have on hand...I tend only to buy extralight...but whatever you use is fine, especially for a wee heavy.

As to how much, use this pitchrate calculator to tell you.

http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

The larger the size you have to make, it's better to build it up incrementally...that way you won't tucker out the yeast. Do it over a few days....

try this website out: http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html, this'll tell you how much to pitch, etc...

you will get a wort of about 1.040 (i think) by using 100g of extra light/light DME per 1L of water... it's the easiest way to do it. you can do two liters right away, no problem.

My rule of thumb is to use 25% of DME by volume of water. So if you need a 2 Liter starter (approximately 8 cups, give or take) then you need 2 cups of DME. I keep extra light DME on hand for yeast starters and for priming my bottles (when I don't have corn sugar).

For my starters I try to use the lightest color DME available. Generally I use 4oz by weight DME per quart of water for a 1.045 OG starter.

Should have added: adjust starter OG as needed for higher gravity brews. The mrmalty link in prior posts is very helpful.

I could be wrong, but I was just reading about starters yesterday since I used 4x the correct DME amount. From what I found you want to stay within 1.025-1.040 for the starter regardless of the OG of your beer. Not only is this the best approach, but its also cheap.

http://www.mrmalty.com/starter_faq.htm

See "Q: If I’m making a high gravity beer, shouldn’t I make a high gravity starter so the yeast become acclimated?"

Check out this episode of Brew Strong with Jamil and John Palmer. It's pretty much everything you need to know about yeast starters with in depth answers. A GREAT resource from people who know their beer.
http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/Brew-Strong/Brew-Strong-12-22-08-Yeast-Starters

Since I will be crashing the yeast after my 2day starter, does it matter how much DME I use for a 5 or 10gal batch? I am asking this because I am going to be pouring out 2/3 of the starter before putting into my wort (since I will be crashing it and letting it settle out). The plan was 4 cups of water, 1 cup DME, and a vial of White Labs WLP001. Is that a good combo?

ibrewit said:

Should have added: adjust starter OG as needed for higher gravity brews. The mrmalty link in prior posts is very helpful.

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Since when? Your supposed to always use 1.040ish gravity for starters, not scale your starter to your beer.

Higher gravity starter = more stressed yeast. The point of starters are to make them multiply and not get stressed....

Also try Yeastcalc.com i think its better than MrMalty for multiple step starters, and makes more sense.

732Brewer said:

Since I will be crashing the yeast after my 2day starter, does it matter how much DME I use for a 5 or 10gal batch? I am asking this because I am going to be pouring out 2/3 of the starter before putting into my wort (since I will be crashing it and letting it settle out). The plan was 4 cups of water, 1 cup DME, and a vial of White Labs WLP001. Is that a good combo?

Click to expand...

Higher gravity gives you better growth rates at the exspense of yeast health. The optimum gravity for a starter is around the 1.020-1.040.

Its better to make your stater by weight and work out the gravity based on the ppg of DME (approx. 36).

So you want roughly want 250g in 2 litres of water.

^Thank you - I was doing more reading on the subject and found that it shouldn't be under 1.5ltr of water - Your 2ltr should be dead on since some of that is going to boil out. So 2ltr was to 1cup of malt right? Lastly, 10min boil before chilling?

i made 2 starters for my last 2 brews just to try making starters, per this forum and some research online. all i had on hand was some really old LME. ...by really old i mean like 6 yrs old! it was a sealed plastic container of pilsen LME. yes, it was way dark and yes, it tasted a bit condensed like molasses. i figured id try it anyway so i used about 2.5L of water and about 3/4 cup LME. after about 15 mins boil time, i took the gravity and it was a little high @ 1.053, so i topped it with cold water to hit 1.040 and cooled to 70f. after splitting the "mini wort" into 2 contaibers (1L ea.) i pitched. i let it go for 15 hrs, decanted both and pitched the 2 diff strains into the diff brews. the one is gone. it was yum. no off flavors or colors and the 2 brews both absolutely took off fermenting...insert blow-off tube debockle gere...moral? make the starters about 1L @ 1.040. cheers!

I weighed out the DME once then put it in a graduated measuring container to convert the weight to volume. 100 ml of DME per 20 oz (~600 ml) of water will get you ~1.035. I don't need to pull the scale out anymore for starters.