Canning starter wort problem

[Homercidal]

Brewed up 3 gallons last night using BIAB on the stovetop. I planned on moving directly into the canner, but there was a TON of hot break, and it would not settle down for me to siphon off the top of.

Any ideas? It's so fine that even pantyhose won't strain it. I put it in a fermenter and placed it in the chamber for a sort of crash cool, but there HAS to be a way to get this strained right after boiling!

Any ideas?

 

[Yooper]

Hot break is so fine (reminds me of egg drop soup!) that I can't think of anything besides overnight chilling to get it to drop out.

 

[Homercidal]

I was afraid of that. I can do that, but kind of would like to get my process down to about 2 hours making wort. From gathering stuff to clean up. Because I have to tack on another 2 hours or more for the canning portion.

I suppose splitting it into 2 days is not that big a deal. The pressure canning will sterilize the wort, so no worry about a few bugs, but I don't want it to sit too long and get any off-flavors.

I am hoping someone can point me to a giant coffee filter or something! LOL!

 

[Yooper]

I'm more laid back than you are, as I'd just use the starter wort as is and can right away.

 

[wyzazz]

Agreed, why are you worried about the break material? It will actually be beneficial to the yeast, to a certain point, and isn't going to hurt anything & will drop to the bottom of the jar after canning and sitting a while.

 

[Bokonon]

Back when I used to can large amounts of wort for starters I would just dump it all in and then decant carefully from the jars. It took a while to realize it wasn't worth going through the canning process when making large starters regularly (3-5L or so)

I still pressure can small amounts: small vials, half pints, pints, a couple of half filled quarts

For the small amounts I usually put several layers of cheesecloth over my canning funnel to keep out the hot break material.

 

[kh54s10]

Am I missing something? If you were making a wort for one starter wouldn't you just cool it and pitch the yeast? Or is there that much more debris in a BIAB starter compared to a DME starter? I would think that it is not a bad thing for the yeast to have the hot break material available.

 

[Homercidal]

I guess, if nobody has any links to some good filter material, I'll just can it up and pour carefully.

kh54s10 - The purpose of canning the starter is to have a ready supply of starter wort so I don't have to prepare and sanitize any wort for making a starter. Just mash a couple of gallons, and can it. Then when I want to make a starter, or build it up, I can just pull a jar off the shelf and pour it in the flask and add yeast. It's easier than rehydrating dry yeast, actually. The wort is sterile and will last indefinitely on the shelf at room temperature.

I am new to the canning. I haven't done it since we were kids. I can see many things that I'd like to can and have in the cupboard now that I have a canner. We used to make grape juice, and can tomatoes, venison, pickles, etc.

 

[bigljd]

I just canned 8 quarts of wort (along with a few 8 oz jelly jars for stepping up yeast slants). I did a brew in a bag process too, only I didn't even bother boiling it before canning it. I just mashed in a bag, ran some hot water through the bag as a 'sparge', added the wort into the jars and canned it at 250 (15 psi) for 15 minutes in my pressure cooker (plus about 45 minutes cool down time). I have a ton of break material in the jars and it's not as visually appealing, but I don't think the yeast care at all.
Why bother boiling it first if it's going to be at 250 degrees in a pressure canner (unless you are just doing a water bath for canning - I'm not sure if your wort will really be sterile with just a water bath)?

 

[Yooper]

I just canned 8 quarts of wort (along with a few 8 oz jelly jars for stepping up yeast slants). I did a brew in a bag process too, only I didn't even bother boiling it before canning it. I just mashed in a bag, ran some hot water through the bag as a 'sparge', added the wort into the jars and canned it at 250 (15 psi) for 15 minutes in my pressure cooker (plus about 45 minutes cool down time). I have a ton of break material in the jars and it's not as visually appealing, but I don't think the yeast care at all.
Why bother boiling it first if it's going to be at 250 degrees in a pressure canner (unless you are just doing a water bath for canning - I'm not sure if your wort will really be sterile with just a water bath)?

I think that would work great, if you use enough grain to get the starter at 1.040 or so. I'd be inclined to boil it first, to make sure I'm at the right SG and then can, but I don't think it's necessary unless you want to filter out the break material (see post #1! :cross

 

[BBL_Brewer]

I canned up some half gallon jars the other night. Here's a pic. Lots of break in the jars. Won't hurt a thing.

 

[bigljd]

I canned up some half gallon jars the other night. Here's a pic. Lots of break in the jars. Won't hurt a thing.

That's pretty much what my quart jars look like. Not the prettiest things, but they'll get the job done.

 

[logdrum]

I use a half of a 1 gal paint strainer bag, sanitized first, to strain through my funnel into the flask. Not the prettiest sight, but I've never had a problem w a starter.

Sent from my iPod touch using HB Talk

 

[Homercidal]

The only reason I boiled first was to get the break material so I could siphon off the top. Once the 60 minute rest is done, the OG should be correct at between 1.030-1.035 (figured on pre-boil gravity).

If I got time, I'll try canning tonight. My day is slipping fast after taking kid to dance and going back to work for something I forgot to do on the last DB maintenance. Maybe overnight in the ferm chamber has settled some of it.

 

[Homercidal]

It took forever for the canner to get up to pressure, so I started straining the bottom of the fermenter through a single layer of paper towel. It worked ok. The stuff at the top of the fermenter was pretty clear to start with.

Now, the second round of canning was pretty strange. I lost a LOT of the wort in the jars. It's like it boiled right out or something. The only thing different was that I waited 5 minutes, then ran lukewarm water over the canner to help it drop pressure quickly, as per the instructions. I *may* have splashed a little, but I can't imagine I spilled almost half the wort out of some of those jars.

At any rate, they all look nice and they all sealed quickly.

 

[melchermatt]

you should not run water over the canner to cool it down - that will cause your jars to 'boil over' since the pressure drops too rapidly when the temperature drops quickly. Let it sit and be patient. I usually have a fair amount of trub in the jars. I shake them when they cool down - to release the stuff that stuck to the side - and just pour carefully when I go to use them.

 

[Homercidal]

I didn't read the instructions very closely on how to make wort. Now that you mention it, those directions may have been for a meal or something. The first time all I did was vent carefully a little bit at a time to help it along. The 5-10 minutes was killing me!

Now it makes sense that the drop in pressure would make a 240+ wort boil like mad.

 

[craigevo]

If your canning in, say, 2qt jars why would you need to decant it into a flask. Apart from the questionable desire to get rid of the break material, why not just pitch your yeast in the canning jar ? You could even throw in a stir bar and put it right on a stir plate. no? You just need to make sure you leave some space in the top of the jar or use a drop of femcap to stop the krausen overflowing.

Just wondering, I haven't yet got into canning, but this would be the ideal way unless there's a problem. I wouldn't wanna bother sanitizing another vessel and risking infection during the transfer.

 

[wyzazz]

If your canning in, say, 2qt jars why would you need to decant it into a flask. Apart from the questionable desire to get rid of the break material, why not just pitch your yeast in the canning jar ? You could even throw in a stir bar and put it right on a stir plate. no? You just need to make sure you leave some space in the top of the jar or use a drop of femcap to stop the krausen overflowing.

Just wondering, I haven't yet got into canning, but this would be the ideal way unless there's a problem. I wouldn't wanna bother sanitizing another vessel and risking infection during the transfer.

You could do this, but as you said you would need to leave some headspace in the jar. In addition there aren't many pressure canners that would accept a 2qt jar. Not to mention that 2qt jars are an odd size and hard to find in this day and age, I've only seen antique 2qt jars in my lifetime.

Personally I do all my starters in a 1gal pickle jar no matter the size, works well for me!

 

[Homercidal]

You could do this, but as you said you would need to leave some headspace in the jar. In addition there aren't many pressure canners that would accept a 2qt jar. Not to mention that 2qt jars are an odd size and hard to find in this day and age, I've only seen antique 2qt jars in my lifetime.

Personally I do all my starters in a 1gal pickle jar no matter the size, works well for me!

I don't know... I kind of like the mad scientist look that my flasks give.

I don't think there would be enough headspace to allow for any krausen though.

I wouldn't think twice about sanitizing a flask and using it. The odds of getting any kind of infection using proper technique is miniscule. Probably lots less than sanitizing a carboy or bucket for fermentation.

 

[wyzazz]

I don't think there would be enough headspace to allow for any krausen though.

I wouldn't think twice about sanitizing a flask and using it. The odds of getting any kind of infection using proper technique is miniscule. Probably lots less than sanitizing a carboy or bucket for fermentation.

Agreed & Agreed, I just leave around 3/4gal of StarSan in my starter jar all the time so I'm pretty sure it's sanitized.

 

[melchermatt]

sanitizing flasks is easy. It takes very little time and effort. As for 2 quart (half gallon) jars - I actually purchased a half dozen of them this spring. I haven't used them yet. They are pretty big and almost require 2 hands to move (I'm sure they would when full of liquid). I also like to use a stir plate and I don't know how well it would work with a jar with an inch of gunk on the bottom.

 

[BBL_Brewer]

Definitely not a good idea to use the half gallon jars for the starter vessel. Especially with all the break in there if you plan to use a stir plate. Not to mention head space issues. I have to keep the big chunks of break out of my starters or they cause my stir bars to get thrown. Honestly, you shouldn't need half gallon jars very often. This is the first time I've canned any and that's just becasue I got them for Christmas and I happen to need a half gallon step when I'm growing large amounts of yeast to freeze. I can up more pints by far than I do anything else.

 

[melchermatt]

... I can up more pints by far than I do anything else.

Agreed--just did a batch a couple of weeks ago. They're easy when stepping up a starter. I also use the canned wort when making plates and slants. They come out great!