First Starter Wort Canning effort

I just finished putting up 7 1L jars of canned wort. I followed the procedures posted on the Maltose Falcons web page.

After the pressure canner cooled down so I could open it I was surprised to see the hot break material in the jars. Also, even after 10 minutes out of the water bath some of the jars were still simmering.

One by one each lid "popped!" as the vacuum created by the cooling snapped the button down on the canning lid.

Took about 90 minutes start to finish and I am going after more jars to do a couple more batches.

 

Wouldn't heating your yeast to 250 degrees as per the instruction kill off all your yeast?

 

I believe the instructions called for yeast nutrient, not the yeast itself. You don't add the yeast to the jars. The starter wort in jars is just an easy way to prepare several starters worth of wort in advance.

 

My eyes are open now!

 

Exactly right. This effort is for convenience. I brew all grain and my plan is to mash a little extra volume from time to time save that for canning the next day. I want to get away from buying DME.

 

I've been canning starter wort for a while now. It is a great time saver and there are two other bonuses too. 1: If the jar top pop seals you know you have a sterile product. No pop = no use. And 2: when you pitch your yeast into the starter there is no issue with temperatures being out of line. Its just room temp or whatever temp you had it at. There is no issue with pitching to hot wort. I can do around 2 gallons in quart jars for each cycle.

I also like to can pint jars of priming sugar because its just so much more convienent to grab a jar and go when I'm ready to bottle.

AND I also pressure can treated water so that if I'm a little low in volume or high in OG, I can fix in a jiffy. I like my pressure canner!

 

Now MY eyes are open. What a wonderful idea. There have been a few occasions where I miscalculated volume and ended up with a little extra and wasn't quite sure what to do with it. Brilliant!

 

Folks,

What makes a good pressure canner? My parents canned when I was a kid, but I don't remember a pressure canner....

 

I got this one from Walmart. Works great! I make 7 starters per batch.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Presto-16-Quart-Aluminum-Pressure-Canner/5913467

 

Pressure canners are pretty cheap and easy to use. My mom just gave me hers, but I have to find a replacement pressure valve.

I started doing this because it's so easy to brew up a small batch of beer on the stove (BIAB) and then can the results. When you want to make a starter, just sanitize the top of the jar, pop it open and you're in business!

Yes you have to schedule a "brew day", but the BIAB method is very easy, and having jars of sterile wort on the shelf makes it worth the effort IMO.

 

Starter SG should be in the range 1.030 to 1.040 (7.4P - 10P) per Mr. Malty web site on starters, so dilute or add a little extract as needed prior to canning.

 

This is a great idea. Thanks for sharing.

 

I really like this! It'd be pretty cheap to get a few pounds of grain mashed get a ton of starter wort.

Do you boil the starter wort before you use it or just let it warm to room temperature, sanitize a flask, pour & pitch? Also do you reuse the ball jar lids or do you recommend buying new ones?

 

Do you boil the starter wort before you use it or just let it warm to room temperature, sanitize a flask, pour & pitch?

Its already been boiled in the jar and if the jar is sealed it is sterile. So just get it to a temp you like (room temp works for me) and then pour into a sanitized flask and pitch.

Also do you reuse the ball jar lids or do you recommend buying new ones?
Get new ones each time. We are talking about the thin flat tops with a rubber coating on the underside. They are like 3 bucks for 12 at wally world. The collars (the piece with the threads) are reusable until they show signs of rust.

There are several threads on this topic with pictures. Use the search function for 'pressure can' or look at the bottom of the first page under related threads for more.

 

The whole point is to not have to boil the starter wort. Just sanitized the lid (like opening a packet of yeast) and pour into flask. If you do up a regular batch of beer, you can have a bunch of starter wort ready to go.

And yes, make it 1.030-1.040 and aerate the hell out of it like just like making beer. You want plenty of O2 in there to help the yeast reproduce.

 

I remember at home when I was a kid mom would place the lids in the canner and pull them out with tongs. That way they are sterile. I can't remember if she bought new or reused though.

 

Bunch of questions, I am doing an all grain brew this weekend and want to try this:

If using it for starter, should I capture it before the boil then pressure can it?
If using if for my priming sugar, should I capture it after the boil and pressure can it?

What I am getting at is, do you guys can wort before or after it is hopped?
Does it make a difference?

 

Love this idea. My OG's are never in a good range for a starter, but I can definitely dilute some prior to canning.

 

To the OP. There's always lots of hot break in the jars. Some people do a preboil to reduce this, but I think its just a waste of time and energy. After the jars cool, shake them up real good. This will dislodge all the break material and it will settle to the bottom while in storage. When you make a starter just decant and leave the break behind or pour through a strainer. The break material is actually beneficial to the yeast, but I keep the big chunks out of my starters because they always seem to interfere with my stir bar.

Other misc questions I see.

* You can pressure the wort with or without boiling.
* You can reuse lids and rings. If lids get damaged or won't seal, toss em.
*You can pitch strait from the jar. It's sterile as long as it sealed.
* If doing priming sugar, don't boil first, just can it up.
* I wouldn't hop the starter wort, if you do, do it mildly. The alpha acids actually put some stress on the yeast. You want a laid back stress free enviroment for your starter. Also, most of the starter beer will likely get dumped down the drain so hopping it won't help the beer any.

For anyone interested, if your going to go to the trouble of pressure canning brewing supplies, check out my post at the bottom on farming yeast and freezing it. It's not that much more trouble once you're already pressure canning.