How old is too old?

[3PegBrew]

I totally saved wort from a beer I made 3-4 months ago. I sanitized the mason jars via boiling water etc. Would I be better off making a new wort for yeast starters or is the saved wort still effective?

 

[spareparts]

How did you store the saved wort? If you put it in the freezer it will be fine for starters. If just in the fridge, I would dump it.

 

[3PegBrew]

Fridge - I sort of figured. Especially since it is coming straight out of the mash prior to boil. So regardless of the mason jars being sanitized, random bacteria could have been present in the mash grist or cooler equipment.

 

[bja]

Fridge - I sort of figured. Especially since it is coming straight out of the mash prior to boil. So regardless of the mason jars being sanitized, random bacteria could have been present in the mash grist or cooler equipment.

Why would you keep pre boil wort?

 

[3PegBrew]

Why would you keep pre boil wort?

Remember "Have a Homebrew" for when brewing? Yeah....I did that a few times. And quite possibly got hit by the ******* stick too.

 

[SwampassJ]

I totally saved wort from a beer I made 3-4 months ago. I sanitized the mason jars via boiling water etc. Would I be better off making a new wort for yeast starters or is the saved wort still effective?

You can always just boil and cool it if you're worried about nasties in it. If it tastes fine pitch in the yeast, if it tastes sour, vinegar or like all around swampass toss it before boiling it, the smell/taste may or may not stick with the yeast when you pitch the starter.

 

[bja]

Remember "Have a Homebrew" for when brewing? Yeah....I did that a few times. And quite possibly got hit by the ******* stick too.

Ahh, anebriated brewing. I fully understand.

 

[3PegBrew]

Ahh, anebriated brewing. I fully understand.

Can we just sticky this as a "Do not do this"?

 

[Bernie Brewer]

Why would you keep pre boil wort?

I do it all the time. I mash a little extra, and freeze it. Then when it is time to make a starter, I thaw it and boil it for five minutes, cool it and pitch the yeast. Beats the hell outta buying DME for starters.

 

[jmf143]

^
+1

Hey, where'd that +1 rant thread go . . . .

 

[bufitfn]

I do it all the time. I mash a little extra, and freeze it. Then when it is time to make a starter, I thaw it and boil it for five minutes, cool it and pitch the yeast. Beats the hell outta buying DME for starters.

I love this! I'm doing that next Batch

 

[Golddiggie]

I do it all the time. I mash a little extra, and freeze it. Then when it is time to make a starter, I thaw it and boil it for five minutes, cool it and pitch the yeast. Beats the hell outta buying DME for starters.

Damn solid idea... Next time I have too much wort, I'll plan on doing that... Although I usually try to not have too much left over...

I'm thinking about trying to use reserved wort to krausen with before the end of the year... Just wish there was an easy way to figure out how much to reserve of a batch... Although, once your system is dialed in, it shouldn't be too difficult to figure out how much you'll need...

Does anyone know of a calculation tool (spreadsheet, or other) to figure out how much of an OG wort you should reserve to krausen?

 

[bja]

I do it all the time. I mash a little extra, and freeze it. Then when it is time to make a starter, I thaw it and boil it for five minutes, cool it and pitch the yeast. Beats the hell outta buying DME for starters.

I make extra too, but I boil it separately while I boil the wort. Keep it in the rerigerator and it stays good for a couple weeks with no additional boiling.