I'd like to make wort to use in my yeast starter. I'll use 2-row barley and want to make around 1/2 gallon. Any help on water and grain volumes would be very much appreciated. Looking for gravity to be around 1.030 - 1.040
seriously, just use dme for your starter
If you're brewing on a budget $1.50 to buy a lb of grain to make a starter is a much nicer looking option than dropping $5 of a lb of DME.
When you're only using like 3oz of DME are you really saving much doing an AG starter?
No DME on hand?
or you could always brew a beer and save some of the runnings for yeast starters. boil it, cool it and refrigerate it in a sanitized container or freeze
1.07 gal water to 10.7oz 2 row, BIAB
will give you around .5 gal at 1.035
At 72% efficiency
with .5 boil off at 60 min boil
So are you gonna can it after and keep it on hand?
It seems like a lot of trouble to save an insubstantial amount of money. Maybe my perspective is out of wack. It seems pretty cheap for the few oz dme needed. If you want to make wort for it sure, you can save a few dollars. It won't make a hill of beans difference in your end product, just cost more time on a starter. I guess if you are already setup for canning then maybe it makes sense. For me, I'd need to by a pressure cooker and other canning supplies... dammit, now I am talking myself into going this route.. damn me
dme still seems easier... but hey... I guess if easy was the object we would just buy beer
I don't know Revvy but making a gallon or two might not be a bad idea to have on hand later. Not real familiar with the canning process, I suppose I can Google that.
Thanks BBL! Would you mind giving me the basic directions to canning? I have 6 or 7 pint size mason jars and a pressure cooker.
To be honest with you, I've never seen one like that. All the ones I've ever saw either had a jiggler or a pressure gauge (I have both kinds). What is the brand and model? Sounds like maybe that one is meant for just cooking and not canning.
I started doing something on brew day that always gives me starter wort when I need it. When I am done brewing I dump the remaining wort at the bottom of my keggle into a bucket. Yes, it is full of protein/hot break material and looks as bad as you can imagine. I layer a couple paper towels in a large funnel and place this in another catch pot. I then pour it in and let it sit and filter. I usually have about two quarts leftover and this all filters crystal clear -- It's amazing. I then pour this clarified wort into labeled/dated freezer bags and freeze them until I need one. At that point, I thaw them, boil for fifteen minutes in my Erlenmeyer flask, cool and pitch.
I am not really spending any extra time and I would dump out the kettle dregs otherwise. I wish I had a picture of the before and after filtering, because it is dramatic.
When you pressure can something, you boil water (and your jars) in a somewhat sealed vessel and the pressure builds up inside. There is always some sort of pressure relief that regulates the pressure. Different foods need to be held at a certain pressure for a given amount of time to properly preserve. 15 psi for 15 minutes will render the wort sterile. For yours, I'm not sure what the settings correspond to in terms of pressure. If you knew what model it was I might be able to look it up.
Dan said:So it's 10:22 pm, I have a gallon of water and 4 cups of crushed two row (my scale died so had to do basic volume measurements) sitting in a crockpot which for the time being is set on high. I didn't realize it was so late so thinking about setting the crockpot to low before I go to bed and just let it mash away till morning.
Revvy said:When you can, and you don't need a pressure cooker to do it, any boiling waterbath can do. You are in essence pasteurizing/sterilizing everything, the container and contents at once. Then as the jar cools, you are also creating a vacuum in the jars which further protects the contents from anything getting in. A pressure cooker really just speeds up the processm but it's like a stirplate where making starters are concernd, it's nice to have if you have one, but you can do it without it.
You can do it in any pot that can hold your jars in.
With all due respect, this is dangerous advice. Boiling does not sterilize it sanitizes.
In Water Bath Canning sterilizing jars is not needed IF processing time is more than 10 minutes Most recipes call for at least 10 minutes processing time or more.
You don't need to sterilize for pressure canning. Everything will be well sterilized by the high heat involved in pressure processing.
Read more: http://www.simplycanning.com/sterilizing-jars.html#ixzz1kqrqOud6
You must however start with clean jars so be sure and always wash your jars before you do any type of canning. I am assuming you would know that all equipment needs to be clean before any canning.
I don't personally use any recipes that call for less than 10 minutes, I am at high altitude and everything has time added.
If you do have a recipe that calls for less than 10 minutes you might consider adding time to your processing. This way you can simply skip this step. It is up to you.
Go ahead and check your recipe, does it call for less than 10 minutes processing time? Don't forget to figure you altitude. If so you should be sterilizing first.
Here's how:
Place empty jars right side up on the rack in a boiling-water canner.
Fill the canner and jars with hot (not boiling) water to one inch above the tops of the jars.
Bring to a boil and boil 10 minutes.
Carefully remove hot, sterilized jars one at a time and drain.
They will be hot!
Leave the hot water left in your canner for processing filled jars.
Continue with your canning recipe.
Read more: http://www.simplycanning.com/sterilizing-jars.html#ixzz1kqrycrcv
Revvy,
Yes, people have been water bath canning for hundreds of years... with certain foods. Foods that are highly acidic or that have large amounts of added sugar are included in this group. Most foods DO require pressure canning. If this wasn't true, why would anyone own a pressure canner? The section of the canning website that you quoted about water bath canning is specifically for the high acid foods that can be safely canned this way. There is another section on that website (which I quote below) that deals with pressure canning for low acid foods.
If you google boiling and sterilization, you will find many references that say "sterilization" when they mean "sanitation". Frighteningly, this includes the health department link that you listed. Not only does boiling not sterilize to begin with, once the items are removed, any part of the item exposed to air would no longer be sterile. When you properly pressure can, the lids seal to the jars before the lid is removed from the pressure canner, preventing non-sterile air from contacting the food.
From the pressure canning page of the site you referenced:
These directions are for pressure canning low acid foods. This includes any meat and most vegetables.
Pickles, jam jelly, or fruits are all high acid foods. If you are preserving these you need to be on my Water Bath Canning Page.
Wort is not a high acid food. a pH in the low 4's is required to safely can without pressure.
From the Sterliziation wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sterilization_(microbiology)) Not that even here, they incorrectly use the term "sterilization". In any case, the point is that they go on to correctly state that pressure canning effectively sterilizes.
Although imperfect, cooking and canning are the most common applications of heat sterilization. Boiling water kills the vegetative stage of all common microbes. Roasting meat until it is well done typically completely sterilizes the surface. Since the surface is also the part of food most likely to be contaminated by microbes, roasting usually prevents food poisoning. Note that the common methods of cooking food do not sterilize food - they simply reduce the number of disease-causing micro-organisms to a level that is not dangerous for people with normal digestive and immune systems.
Pressure cooking is analogous to autoclaving and when performed correctly renders food sterile. However, some foods are notoriously difficult to sterilize with home canning equipment, so expert recommendations should be followed for home processing to avoid food poisoning.
So, I will freely admit that part of my motivation for my initial reply was because the whole Sanitation vs. Sterilization thing is a major pet peeve of mine (I work in surgery, sanitized doesn't cut it!) but also because I truly believe that improperly canning wort (which is made to be a great growth medium) can be potentially dangerous.
Adam
or you could always brew a beer and save some of the runnings for yeast starters. boil it, cool it and refrigerate it in a sanitized container or freeze
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