Fermenting yeast starter in pressure cooker

[Druncle]

I was gifted an instapot pressure cooker.

I had a crazy idea to make the whole starter in the pressure cooker. I'd boil the starter wort, let in cool no chill, when the proper temp is reached open the pressure valve, pour my yeast in and let it ferment with the lid on and valve open.

It's the lazy way to make a starter.

Any issues y'all can think of?

Thanks,

 

[Beer4All]

I was gifted an instapot pressure cooker.

I had a crazy idea to make the whole starter in the pressure cooker. I'd boil the starter wort, let in cool no chill, when the proper temp is reached open the pressure valve, pour my yeast in and let it ferment with the lid on and valve open.

It's the lazy way to make a starter.

Any issues y'all can think of?

Thanks,

If you are planning to make a starter for an upcoming brew day, you really don't need the pressure cooker. You could just boil the yeast starter for 10-15 minutes to sanitize in any pot then cool and pitch. You won't get as much growth this way vs. putting on a stir plate but there are plenty of online calculators you can use for this. Also decanting and pouring into the fermenter may be a challenge.

A pressure canner (not pressure cooker, doesn't build to the same pressure) is nice to make quart size starter jars for long term storage, this is what I use. When needed I just open up (2) jars and pour into a sanitized rubbermaid pitcher on a stir plate and add yeast...starter in 5 minutes.

 

[Druncle]

I have the whole setup with the Erlenmeyer flask and a stir plate. Unfortunately I broke my flask.

The idea was just to make it as simple and less time consuming.

It probably would be a pain to decant it.

 

[Beer4All]

I use a Rubbermaid 3L pitcher from Walmart for my starters on a stir plate. Any container with a flat bottom would do with enough volume

 

[Druncle]

Fair point, I'm on a strict budget, and had been using gallon water jugs.

I haven't noticed a huge difference in the harvested amounts not using a stir plate, but that's purely anecdotal.

Thank you for your help by the way.

 

[Beer4All]

Haven’t considered gallon jugs...whatever works! Overbuilding starters and harvesting yeast is the best money saver there is! Cheers

 

[ba-brewer]

gallon jugs and mason jars work but can are sometime difficult to get them set just right to not throw the spin bar. The rounded bottom also created more noise.

Think I would do a shaken starter in a jug before doing the instapot thing.

 

[David Coy]

gallon jugs and mason jars work but can are sometime difficult to get them set just right to not throw the spin bar. The rounded bottom also created more noise.

Think I would do a shaken starter in a jug before doing the instapot thing.

Was just about to mention shaking too.
https://www.experimentalbrew.com/blogs/saccharomyces/shaken-not-stirred-stir-plate-myth-buster

 

[Beer4All]

Was just about to mention shaking too.
https://www.experimentalbrew.com/blogs/saccharomyces/shaken-not-stirred-stir-plate-myth-buster

Have never tried the shaken not stirred method before. I usually overbuild my starter and harvest a pint jar before pitching to use as a future starter.