Starter

I have never made a starter before and I am going to do one this week. I have confidence in doing it, but my concern is what to do it in. I do not have a flask or a growler, or any small glass container for that matter. Can I use a plastic picture and cover the picture with tin foil?

 

Anything would probably work as long as it's properly sanitized and covered loosely with tinfoil. My plastic pitcher is filled with scratches, so I'd be very careful about cleaning and then sanitizing. But other than that...you're good to go...

 

I use a plastic drink pitcher and the cover. I cover the pour hole with sanitized tim foil. I haven't had a problem yet.
Just a note if this is your first time using liquid yeast. Be careful, contents are under pressure.

 

I don't know who Tim foil is but I really cover it with tin foil.

 

That guy is always trying to cover my starters. :fro:

 

What would be better is an empty 2-liter soda bottle (better yet, 3-liter). The PET bottle won't have any scratches inside, plus you can shake every couple hours to degas, squeeze to push out the CO2 and release to introduce more oxygen. Then leave the cap on loosely.

 

I use a "simply Lemonade" bottle from the grocery store, if you put the cap on loose, you can see it lift up and make a little noise releasing CO2

 

I just used a growler for my first starter and it worked like a charm. Tim Foil covered that one for me, too.

 

Well I wouldn't use a picture, you'll ruin it if you pour yeast and wort on it. A pitcher on the other hand may work well.

Find a 1 gallon jar, or a glass vase, or a distilled water jug. Really anything will work it just needs to be sanitized thoroughly and large enough to hold your starter with a bit of headspace.

 

I just picked up a gallon glass jug of apple juice for $6, which was the exact same price as an empty jug from the LHBS. I haven't used the gallon yet but I have a prestarter waiting for a pilsner I want to brew soon (my first lager). I use a half gallon clear growler for smaller starters. Maybe you have a local brewery that sells in growlers?

A stir plate will produce a lot more yeast for another $50 or a lot less with DIY. I only had to spend $5 on a stir bar to build mine.

 

Here is a hypothetical, so respond with pros and cons: what about making your starter in your primary fermenter ?

 

You could totally do this... there might be some kind of a con to the yeast trying to start in a shallow amount of liquid im not sure. If your doing a really big beer and you need a 1 gallon starter this makes great sense, just cold crash the starter after its done, and syphon the beer off the top

 

I was just about to use my brita water pitcher when I found that my ex had left a nice glass vase that holds 2 pints easily. I used it. I have been looking into stir plates, but do I really need this? Finally, when it is go time, do I really need to siphon off any liquid or can I pitch the entire thing?

 

sorry to hijack, but I am about to use a liquid for the first time, can someone point me in the right direction for step by step directions on how to create a starter... I have many growlers to use.

thanx

 

Do you have room in your fermenter for a quart of starter? My fermenter is maxxed out at 5.25 gallons, so I have to decant the liquid after chilling the yeast to leave some headroom for krausen. You certainly can pitch the entire suspension if you have room.

 

Firebat- Easiest way to do it is to go to Youtube and ype in "how to do a yeast starter" People do not think about it but Youtube has TONS of homebrew videos and it has people showing you how to do it so you realize, "hey, I can do that!"

 

Check out http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html and you'll see how much more yeast growth you get with a stirplate. This means you can make much smaller starters. When it comes time to pitch you can pitch the whole thing or chill and decant, the latter requires some pre-planning a few days in advance. If you're doing a big beer with a larger starter I'd say chill & decant then pitch.

 

So why not just save the room and pitch the whole thing? It really depends on if you are going to do a full or partial boil. With a partial boil you can pour the wort into the primary and fill with water leaving the volume of your starter out. Then add the entire starter, to full recipe volume. The only issue here is your OG reading. If you are a real stickler, you may be a bit off. I pitch the entire thing as I use the DME that was intended for the recipe to make the starter. I'm sure someone can do the math with a starter of 2 qts water and 8oz DME, to get the difference in the gravity. It doesn't worry me much. I just RDWHAHB.

 

This is a very basic diagram for making a starter. To answer somebodies question, no you do not need to decant the liquid off the yeast, most of the time you wont. However when making big HUGE beers where 1 gallon starters are used, you typically want to just pitch the yeast. You can do this by refrigerating the starte, after its finished, till the yeast drop out of suspension. Then just pour or syphon the liquid off.
Oh, and you don't need a jug, funnel, or airlock. A sanitized piece of foil works great too.