Krausen level in starter from different brands of DME

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masaba

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On my latest starter I have had a problem with excessive krausen overflowing the flask. I had not experienced this previously. The only difference between my previous starters and this one is that I ran out of Briess pilsen dme and opened a bag of Muntons extra light. Has anyone else found that they get more or less krausen when switching brands of DME?

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On my latest starter I have had a problem with excessive krausen overflowing the flask. I had not experienced this previously. The only difference between my previous starters and this one is that I ran out of Briess pilsen dme and opened a bag of Muntons extra light. Has anyone else found that they get more or less krausen when switching brands of DME?

Set and forget or with a stir plate? I've never had a noticeable krausen on any of my stir plate starters.
 
It is a new yeast for me as well, WLP 833. I have used other lager yeasts, as well as many ale yeasts, in the past and have not had this problem.

The only difference between my previous starters and this one


These two statements don't jive.


I would say biggest differences in behavior would be due to yeast strain, temp, and viability of packaged yeast. I would think most light DMEs are going to behave extremely similarly, everything else equal.
 
These two statements don't jive.


I would say biggest differences in behavior would be due to yeast strain, temp, and viability of packaged yeast. I would think most light DMEs are going to behave extremely similarly, everything else equal.

Guess I will know for sure in a few weeks as I plan to use WLP001 for that brew. If I see the same behavior it will likely be the DME, if not, then the yeast.
 
I always get Krausen when I make starters with belgian yeast. Stir plates make it worse. I would say it is more yeast dependent.
 
I finally got around to making a starter again last night, and I can now say that it seems my original hypothesis was correct. This time I made a starter with WLP001, a yeast I have made starters with many times in the past. Again, it had a huge krausen that overflowed my flask. I have never had this problem in the past with other brands of light DME and across many different yeast strains.

I guess I will invest in some fermcap.
 
I used muntons, don't
remember what yeast that was though

Interesting, the new DME I have that is giving me problems is Munton's as well.

I went through a 3 lb bag of a different brand (LD Carlson, I think), which is many starters, without ever having an overflow. Now, the first two starters with the Munton's DME I have had this problem.

Like I said, I think I will invest in some fermcap to solve this problem, but I do wonder if I could solve it as well by just avoiding Munton's DME.
 
Muntons is pretty good extract though which is why I go for it. fermcap seems like a good solution.
 
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