Making a starter

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acparr27

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Whats the best way to make a starter using liquid yeast. I know LME should be used but i dont want to use any from the kit. What other options can i use that I can buy at a local grocery store? Also dont want to order and pay shipping because I dont have a home brew store in the area.

Has anyone used honey to make a starter?

Thanks!
 
Honey is low in nitrogen which is important part of yeasts nutrients.
Also it will lower pH of starter, so it will be more acidic than optimal.
 
You don't really want to use any simple sugars to make a starter: the yeast will consume them and multiply, but they also will lose the ability to consume maltose - which is the majority of the fermentable sugars in your wort, so that's a bad thing.

I honestly can't think of anything from the grocery store that would be really good. I mean, maybe you could do something with that Goya Malta stuff. . . but I wouldn't recommend it.

Starters are really great ways to improve your final product, but they aren't necessary to make really excellent beers. The vials and smack packs come with more than enough cells to ferment a five or ten gallon batch, so you can just pitch directly from one of them: I've won more than a few competitions pitching a single vial into five gallons of wort, so don't imagine that you're beer will automatically be BAD if you do that.

So, in short: my first choice would be for you to get some DME, some LME, make a mini-mash, or whatever you have to do to get some real wort. Short of that, just pitch a vial, and don't screw around with making a starter out of wheatabix.
 
Starters are really great ways to improve your final product, but they aren't necessary to make really excellent beers.

my first choice would be for you to get some DME

+1

Do yourself a favor and buy a 1lb bag of extra light DME, keep it around just for starters when you need them. Cheap and useful investment.
 
+1

Do yourself a favor and buy a 1lb bag of extra light DME, keep it around just for starters when you need them. Cheap and useful investment.

+1 This is exactly what I do. I buy 3# bags of light DME and keep it around just for starters. DME would be much easier to keep around than LME, you can just seal it up in a ziploc. Next time you place an order I would pick some up. It's cheap too. I've never used anything else for a starter, so I can't help you there.
 
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