Easiest yeast Starter - Diluted Juice?

[nickster51]

I've recently started making yeast starters and harvesting yeast from overly sized yeast starters. A buddy of mine is really into cider, and often uses ale yeasts to make it. So I wondered...

Could you use apple/grape juice (appropriately pasteurized and preservative free at the appropriate specific gravity) for a yeast starter? Would it be sanitary to do so without boiling the juice? Are the needed nutrients present in juices? (I don't see many ciders calling for a nutrient addition)

I did a trial run with grape juice, and the result looks like it worked. I'm currently trying an apple juice starter. I'll try and post photos of the harvested yeast.

I'm guessing people have already tried this, but didn't find anything when searching. What are some thoughts on this?

 

[ChessRockwell]

When you get your yeast used to eating the simple sugars in a juice, and then toss them in with the more complex sugars in your beer they may not want to do the extra work to digest them. At least that's the theory, badly explained. You can certainly grow yeast using juice, but it may be ill prepared for fermenting beer.

 

[brownrice]

When you get your yeast used to eating the simple sugars in a juice, and then toss them in with the more complex sugars in your beer they may not want to do the extra work to digest them. At least that's the theory, badly explained. You can certainly grow yeast using juice, but it may be ill prepared for fermenting beer.

not badly explained- that's the theory.

would you expect lower attenuation? off-flavors? inconsistent performance?
or worst case scenario, bottle bombs?

 

[FarmerTed]

Besides the issue that you are conditioning the yeast to ignore complex sugars, I'd worry about carrying over cidery flavors (or bad wine-y flavors) unless you do a good job of decanting the liquor and maybe even rinsing the yeast. I would just put the hour or so of work into getting a regular starter going instead of using juice. Although, if time is most important to you, and cost isn't, I believe I've seen canned starter wort for sale. You could look into using it instead of juice or boiling up your own starter wort.