DME for starter?

[user 4295]

I typically use light DME when making up a starter. My order arrived today and my supplier correctly shipped me a 3 lb bag of light DME, but the 1 lb bag they sent was Amber DME. Does anyone see any issues using Amber DME for use in a starter? I wouldn't think there would be, but I just thought I would check with my people to make sure.

John

 

[Glibbidy]

No, It will only affect the overall color of your beer if you are making something lighter in color then amber.

 

[user 4295]

Thanks for your quick response. That is what I thought. Since I let all of my starters ferment out completely, chill and decant off the spent wort and then pitch only the yeast slurry then I guess the color of the DME won't really matter.

John

 

[disaffected]

John, how long in advance do you usually start a starter to give it time to ferment out completely? I just bought an erlenmeyer flask and some DME because I want to try this method. If you could briefly list the steps in your process, that would be helpful to me.

What would you do if you miscalculated and got a slow start to your starter, so that it had not fermeted out completely by brew day? Delay brew day, wait for starter fermentation to complete, then decant and refrigerate the yeast until your next available brew day?

 

[user 4295]

I'll answer the second part of your question first. I tend to not schedule a brew day around a starter. The yeast are very hearty little beasts and can tolerate a lot. They will keep nicely in the fridge for many days, or longer, until you can schedule a brew day. After extended time in the fridge, more than a couple of weeks, the yeast should be reactivated by pitching them into a fresh starter wort.

Here is my method of making a starter. I make 2500 ml starters for all my beers. Really big beers are pitched onto the yeast cakes of beers made with 2500 ml starters. I know lagers need larger starters than that, but I don't lager yet. Using the metric system to determine how much DME to use to get the SG of the starter wort to about 1.040 makes it really easy. Use a 10:1 ratio of water/DME.

So when I make a 2500 ml starter, I weigh out 250 grams of DME and add it to the 3000 ml flask that I have. Then I add enough water to obtain a final volume of 2700 ml, to allow for some boil off. A few pinches of yeast nutrient, add the stir bar and the flask is onto the stove to boil for 15 minutes. I use Foam Control Drops to keep from having boil overs. Even with the drops, because I've got 2700 ml in a 3000 ml flask, I have to remove the flask from the heat from time to time to keep from boiling over. I use a big oven mitt to carefully move the flask around. Right at the end of the boil I place a piece of folded up aluminum foil , that had been soaking in Star-San, over the top of the flask and let it sit for a little while before moving it to a cold water bath. I let the flask sit in a pot of tap water and just keep changing the water and swirling the flask until it's around room temperature. This takes about 20-25 minutes or so. You can add some ice if you want to speed it up.

Once cooled, I use a small tank of O2 and a sanitized diffusion stone and add O2 for about 15-20 seconds. Then I add the yeast from the vial or the smack pack. I add a 15 second blast of O2 every 15 minutes for the first hour, put the foil back on, and then it's onto the stir plate with the speed set to just fast enough to keep the yeast in suspension, about a 1/2" deep vortex in the top of the liquid. The yeast will go to town on the relatively small amount of wort and if your not looking you might miss it. Since foam control was used during the boil I don't get much, if any, krausen to speak off.

The yeast will be mostly done increasing their cell count in about 18-24 hours, but I actually let them go for a full 48, sometimes 72 hours. Then it's into the fridge for a couple of days to let the yeast settle out. When I'm ready to use the yeast I carefully decant off all of the spent wort, leaving only enough to swirl the yeast back into suspension. Some people like to pitch the yeast cold, while some like to bring it up to wort temp first, but I'll leave that debate for another day. In either case the yeast gets pitched into 5 gallons of wort that I will oxygenate with about 60-90 seconds of O2. Be careful not to pitch your stir bar into the wort along with the yeast. Ask me how I know.

Even with foam control drops in the 5 gallon wort boil, since I began making starters this way, and adding O2 to the the 5 gallons of wort, I get very aggressive, and more importantly, complete fermentations. Sorry for the long winded post, but you asked.

John

 

[boo boo]

Johnsma22, a magnet on the outside of the flask will hold the stirbar while you pitch the yeast.

 

[disaffected]

Great info, John, thanks very much. I'll try a variation of that method for my next brew. I have a 2000 ML flask, so I won't be able to make quite as large a batch, but I'm sure it'll still work.

The magnet idea is a good one, boo boo.

 

[user 4295]

Johnsma22, a magnet on the outside of the flask will hold the stirbar while you pitch the yeast.

Yeah I know. After this happened to me the first time I went to ebay to get another stir bar. I found this vendor that sells lab supplies. I bought a couple of stir bars and a magnetic stir bar retriever that is shown in the link.

John

 

[Glibbidy]

Yeah I know. After this happened to me the first time I went to ebay to get another stir bar. I found this vendor that sells lab supplies. I bought a couple of stir bars and a magnetic stir bar retriever that is shown in the link.

John

Do you have it registered with the American Kennel Association? Did it come with papers?

 

[user 4295]

Do you have it registered with the American Kennel Association? Did it come with papers?

It took me a second to realize what you were talking about. Thanks for the laugh!

John

 

[BrettMan]

Wow - that sure is a lot of work before you even start making beer! Is it really worth all of that extra effort? It seems like dry yeast right out of the packet or liquid yeast right out of the vial works just fine for low ABV beers...

 

[aseelye]

Perhaps, but it's good insurance that you get a good clean fermentation with minimal off-flavors

 

[seyahmit]

Wow - that sure is a lot of work before you even start making beer! Is it really worth all of that extra effort? It seems like dry yeast right out of the packet or liquid yeast right out of the vial works just fine for low ABV beers...

If you want to make the best beer possible , then yes it is more than worth it. My beers have greatly improved since I started pitching the proper amount of yeast.

I pretty much use the exact same procedure, except I ferment my starter in a 1 gallon jug. I will never do another beer without a starter, that is unless I am doing a beer with an OG of 1.038-1.040.