Gluten Free Starters

[Satisfaction]

Posted this a while ago in the yeast forums, but wanted to rehash this again. Compare and contrast notes with you all...

My current method is that I take one sample of 2000ml from the batch of gluten free beer I make, quickly can and save for the next batch starter. When it is time to brew again I just take it out, remove the top, drop the sanitized stir bar in, add yeast, cover with foil and let the stir plate do its magic for a day or so.

Have any of you used the dried rice extracts or something of that nature with success? I've done a couple starters with small batches of sorghum extract, but that stuf is so thick it is hard to work cleanly with small amounts.

 

[david_42]

Molasses is often used as the growth medium for GF brewing yeast. You'll probably want some yeast nutrient as well.

 

[Satisfaction]

Excellent idea, will give that a try next time.

 

[KevinM]

I have tried using the rice syrup solids as starter material. I don't think I've had any issues (though I'm not entirely sure) but if I were to do this again I'd add nutrients to it.

I usually only do this if I'm doing a liquid yeast where I've "washed" the yeast several times and want to populate some more and wash one more time.

 

[DougmanXL]

I was having difficulty getting the right yeast count using a cup of rice syrup solids in the past - the stuff had a tendency to separate and settle at the bottom. Buying a stir-plate helped, but now I use a cup of honey, a cup of rice syrup solids, and a tsp of yeast nutrient. Molasses would be good too, or brown sugar maybe... I'll try with DRS & molasses on my next belgian strong.