First yeast starter for tomorrow's first AG

[LouBrew2]

I just boiled my DME for my starter and found that I didn't have access to an ice bath so I stuck the hot liquid in my freezer to chill down. It looks very hazy. Did I screw this up? I sure hope that the cloudiness is normal!

 

[sjbeerman]

Yes, its normal. Did you place a piece of sanitized foil over the top?

You can also place in the sink in cold water and use ice from the freezer. That's what I normally do...

 

[LouBrew2]

I haven't placed the foil over it yet. Do I need to do this before I pitch the yeast in the starter? haha I planned on putting ice in the sink but my rubber plugs do not hold the water what so ever! I don't have an ice maker so i figured I was SOL. This night turned into a bit of a trainwreck but I'm managing. I totally forgot to buy an airlock for the starter. Is that necessary?

 

[sjbeerman]

Do not place anything in the freezer that is not covered and then place that same liquid in your primary. I did that once to cool down the water before rehydrating my dried yeast and guess what happened. I contaminated my entire batch of beer. I had to throw the whole thing out. It turns out that the air in the freezer can contain a common bacteria (according to Palmer) and I happened to experience this first hand.

If you placed your starter in the freezer uncovered, I would remake it. It's not worth the risk of contaminating an entire batch of beer.

An airlock is not necessary for a starter. I just use a piece of sanitized foil to cover it. It works just as good, if not better, to allow oxygen to enter and CO2 to escape.

 

[HItransplant]

no airlock, just foil. Leave the foil a little loose to allow air exchange, but to keep anything from falling down into the jug.

edit...oops, just realized sjbeerman beat me to the punch.

 

[coypoo]

1. Always loosely cover your pot you boiled the starter in to make sure there isnt a big 'ol hole for stuff to get into the starter.
2. I usually cool my pot-o-starter in a sink with water. I will stir the starter wort and refill the water as needed to cool it down.
3. You dont want an airlock on the starter b/c you want O2 exchanged (like mentioned above) to maximize the yeast growth
4. You should make your starters way more than 12 hours in advance. I usually do about 5 days. Others do about 3 when they want to pitch at high krausen.
6. Don't worry, it'll probably be fine.

 

[Frodo]

1. Always loosely cover your pot you boiled the starter in to make sure there isnt a big 'ol hole for stuff to get into the starter.
2. I usually cool my pot-o-starter in a sink with water. I will stir the starter wort and refill the water as needed to cool it down.
3. You dont want an airlock on the starter b/c you want O2 exchanged (like mentioned above) to maximize the yeast growth
4. You should make your starters way more than 12 hours in advance. I usually do about 5 days. Others do about 3 when they want to pitch at high krausen.
6. Don't worry, it'll probably be fine.

+1. I'm pretty low stress about starters, but definitely make sure I'm sanitary. I put the water in the pot, put the DME in, bring to boil and keep there a few minutes, put the lid on the pot, keep at boiling temp for about another minute. Then put the pot in a shallow ice bath in the sink until it's cool. Then once at 70F or so I pour it into a sanitized glass jar/flask/1 gallon wine jug. Aerate well. Pitch yeast vial. Put aluminum foil over the top and replace as necessary to keep it clean. Shake/stir as often as possible for a day or two, until it's obvious fermentation of the starter is done. Put in refrigerator to let yeast settle. Pull out of fridge and decant a few hours before pitching into the main wort.