Another yeast starter question

[jiffybrew]

This may sound dumb but i need to ask it. Could you make a yeast starter with sugar, sterile water and yeast nutrient? Since sugar ferments completely and does little to affect the taste, I was thinking this was a quick and dirty way of making a starter.

 

[Yooper]

No, that isn't a good way to make a starter. Oh, the yeast will ferment it just fine- but that then causes a problem. You want the ale yeast to ferment wort, not sugar water. So, you'd acclimate the yeast to simple sugars (like dextrose or sucrose), but then expect them to ferment maltose. You'd be stressing the yeast, instead of giving it a "head start". So, you should not use sugar, and you want your starter wort to be around 1.040. Not too high, because you don't want to stress the yeast. You want to wake up the yeast, and get them reproducing and active.

 

[jiffybrew]

Thanks Yooper. So the yeast will get accustomed to eating sucrose and glucose and won't break down the maltose when added to the wort?

 

[Yooper]

Exactly. Well, it eventuallly WILL ferment it, but it'll lead to some stressed yeast.