Liquid Starter w/o DME?

[coldrice]

So, I understand that DME is the best way about it, but I intend to brew on Wednesday, which doesn't give me nearly enough time to acquire said DME. I understand maltose is largely responsible for the success of a healthy starter, but is there another way to achieve this? A simple mini-mash (ACK! I would then be sacrificing part of my grain bill), honey, oatmeal, etc.....a little help, please. I am using White Labs #WLP005 British Ale Yeast. I have always pitched yeast directly to wort and achieved fermentation after about 2 to 3 days, but I am really trying to do it right from here on out. I have had a few poor attenuations, likely as a result of never having done a starter...

 

[malkore]

honey, sugar, oatmeal...these don't work. you really need wort for the starter, whether its mashed grain or DME/LME.

 

[coldrice]

If i make a real wort starter after the boil and pitch the yeast to it, does the main wort suffer in any way from sitting for 2 days?

 

[Wellshooter]

...and if the wort starter fails? How long would the wort sit then? If you didn't plan far enough ahead to make a proper starter it would seem to me that the best thing to do would be just pitch the yeast you have a and plan better next time. Or postpone the brew date.

 

[coldrice]

interesting point, well taken.

 

[hal2814]

I would much rather do a real wort starter and wait a day or two with unfermented wort than just pitch what I have and hope for the best. If you are even decent with sanitation, I'd put your odds of an infected batch lower than your odds of undesirable effects from underpitching even if a first starter fails.

 

[Sedge]

As has been said you really need to get the yeast started eating maltose, or it won't do it later on. You don't have to take your starter wort from your main mash either. Want a 2L starter? Just take some base malt and mash it on your stove or in the oven. If you've got software it should be pretty simple to figure out how much grain/water to use to get to your starter gravity.