pisssssssssed!!!!!!!!!

[aaronbeer]

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

So I made my first starter today! I was going to use my new stir plate to keep the liquid moving....... but.......

 

[aaronbeer]

So now I put my starter in a growler, but I cant get the damn magnet to spin!!!! It worked fine in the flask but not the growler. So now I have to swirl my starter by hand.

By the way I did 4 cups water, one cup light DME, a teaspoon of nutrient, and one smacked smack pack. Sound good?

 

[HughBrooks]

I am oing my first starter with a stir plate today also. I have read that you should use 1 quart of water with 4 oz of DME. That should give you startr of bout 1.040, that should be fine for your average gravity beer, bump it up a little if you are doing a high gravity beer. How big is the mixing stick you are trying to use? You should be fine though as long as you shake your bottle up 3 or 4 times a day (more if you can).

 

[aaronbeer]

First of all, I cant belive I broke that flask. Brand new!!!!!!!! Ok I feel better now! Its about 1 1/2 inches or a little less. I was shooting for a liter of starter. From what I ready, that's what I found. I will brew on saturday afternoon, so I will put it in the fridge on friday night and then poor off the beer sat morning then let it warm to room temp and then pitch in my first ALL GRAIN BATCH!!!!!! Phat Tyre clone!

 

[Schlenkerla]

Your growler is causing it to bottom out on the magnets. Causing friction which and stopping rotation

I have some plastic shims that I wedge in between the plexi-glass and the fan.

Wedge a gap to fix this.

 

[aaronbeer]

It throws the magnet! I think the bottom it to curved and because the glass is brown, I cant see to center it!

 

[HughBrooks]

Sounds like every thing should be ok...except the flask.....ouch!. Any way good luck with the brew! Got to love the Flying Dog!

 

[aaronbeer]

So here is the sunshine at the end of the storm! I "had" to order a new flask and I "had" to order some new yeast (stuck braggot). So I figured well sense I am paying shipping, I might as well order another all grain kit (Double chocolate stout), even though I have an all grain kit waiting to brew already! Just another excuse to but more homebrew supplies!!!!!

 

[PseudoChef]

I am oing my first starter with a stir plate today also. I have read that you should use 1 quart of water with 4 oz of DME. That should give you startr of bout 1.040, that should be fine for your average gravity beer, bump it up a little if you are doing a high gravity beer. How big is the mixing stick you are trying to use? You should be fine though as long as you shake your bottle up 3 or 4 times a day (more if you can).

That's not a good practice. You want to keep the starter wort around 1.040 for any beer you do. A higher gravity wort will stress the yeast more than necessary during the growth/reproduction phase. If you are doing a higher gravity beer, you simply need more cells/ml rather than a higher O.G. of starter wort.

1 cup DME to 4 cups of water is a good ballpark. Ideally, however, you want to weigh all ingredients as volume measurements with solids are inherently inaccurate. The easiest method, (my scientific bias speaking) is metric: 100g DME into 1 liter of water. This will net right around 1.040 each and every time.

 

[aaronbeer]

i have 3 oz bags of DME? and no scale.

 

[Schlenkerla]

It throws the magnet! I think the bottom it to curved and because the glass is brown, I cant see to center it!

I guess you farked until you get another flask. Shake it alot.

 

[Bernie Brewer]

It throws the magnet! I think the bottom it to curved and because the glass is brown, I cant see to center it!

That's exactly why. Pretty much every glass vessel, other than a flask, is going to have that concave bottom, causing you to throw the magnet. bummer about your flask. How'd you break it?

 

[HughBrooks]

I read to do a higher garavity starter for a higher gravit beer to get the yeast use to the pressure from a high gravity wort. For instance if you had a 1.040 gravity starter and pitch it to a 1.070 beer then the added pressure from the gavity would stunt the yeast growth, that is from an article by MB Raines PHD, Guide to yeast culturing for homebrewers. Do a google search and you should find it

 

[aaronbeer]

oh i will. I will probably not be able to sleep and will get up randomly to shake it! I am a little ocbd (obsessive compulsive beer disorder).

 

[PseudoChef]

I read to do a higher garavity starter for a higher gravit beer to get the yeast use to the pressure from a high gravity wort. For instance if you had a 1.040 gravity starter and pitch it to a 1.070 beer then the added pressure from the gavity would stunt the yeast growth, that is from an article by MB Raines PHD, Guide to yeast culturing for homebrewers. Do a google search and you should find it

Yeah, Jamil Z and John Palmer have debunked this on their yeast starter episode of Brew Strong. As I mentioned above, the greater gravity/viscosity of the wort will lead to slower reproduction of the yeast cells. While osmotic pressure may be a factor, I would argue that having fewer cells would be more of a factor as far as the actual fermentation is concerned.

Aaron, you should invest in a scale as it will also be useful for weighing hops.

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

i have 3 oz bags of DME? and no scale.

Time to pick up a scale then..

 

[aaronbeer]

I broke it messing with the fermentation chamber it was sitting on. Yeah, a scale is on the list! Just don't want to go further in the credit card hole! Any good sugestions for a good one that's not to exspensive?

 

[HughBrooks]

Wouldnt it just take a little longer to propagate at 1.070 but in the end wouldnt it be better to have the right amount to pitch that is used to the pressure from the high gravity? Not tryin to argue... just makin sure I got my facts straight for the next starter

 

[vtbeerman]

I use a dollar store vase for my "flask" because it has a flat bottom. Also, I won't care as much if I break it. I put sanitized foil over the top so it doesn't have to fit an airlock or anything. It's over a quart.

 

[JPicasso]

You can get a decent kitchen scale from target, wal-mart that will measure by tenths of an oz, and up to 5 pounds for around $20.

Turns out the kitchen scale is useful when cooking too.

 

[PseudoChef]

Wouldnt it just take a little longer to propagate at 1.070 but in the end wouldnt it be better to have the right amount to pitch that is used to the pressure from the high gravity? Not tryin to argue... just makin sure I got my facts straight for the next starter

It would take longer, but it also causes detrimental effects to yeast health. Stressed yeast can lead to underattenuation and unwanted esters/phenols. I will try to listen to the show again today to see exactly what they say, and if they address the osmotic shock theory.

 

[conpewter]

I like to get starter wort by clearing out my tubing and the trub from the last batch. When I am done with transferring to the carboy I will drain the hops (somtimes) and also run water from the HLT through my pump and CFC to push the rest of the sweet wort out. I'll collect this into a gallon freezer bag, mark the OG/date/type on the bag and freeze it. Then when I want to do a starter I can just that that and boil it. I sometimes add water to get somewhere around 1.040. I try to use dark brews for starters on dark beer only. Light brews will work for either.

 

[Nightbiker]

You can get a decent kitchen scale from target, wal-mart that will measure by tenths of an oz, and up to 5 pounds for around $20.

Turns out the kitchen scale is useful when cooking too.

thats exactly what I did (from walmart). Mine is an analog scale, and in hindsight I wish I'd spent a few more bucks and picked up a digital one.

 

[HughBrooks]

I picked up a digital scale for 25 bucks at my LHBS and I am happy with that, it will wiegh up to 11 pounds. Thanks for the input pseudo chef, I will also try to download that show to check it out....there are so many different opinions on what works best it is hard to decide what I want to do.

 

[conpewter]

There are some decent scales on ebay that are a good price. I got the 35lb model that is accurate to .1 oz. I think it was under $20 shipped.

 

[taylornate]

I got one that is 1000gx0.1g for $10 shipped from Hong Kong!

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I use the standard 1 gallon jugs for liquid starters. I too had issues with the curved bottom constantly throwing the stir bar.

I fixed the problem by placing a dip tube o-ring in the center of the stir bar for a pivot point and now, it works every time. To solve the centering problem, I placed a similar empty jug on the stir plate with a spare stir bar and fidgeted to locate the center point and then marked the stir plate for the vessel edge.

 

[Chupacabras]

FWIW I've never used a stir plate, and always have had explosive fermentations when my starter was introduced to properly aerated wort. It seems to me that this stir plate craze has only cropped up recently (within the last 2-3 years) , and I will probably only get one when the I have every other gadget imaginable. One of those ain't broke, don't fix type of things.

 

[aaronbeer]

picked one up at target. More than i should have paid, but I am not good at delayed gratification. All my patience is used up waiting for my beer. I am not going to wait for supplies to!

 

[beesy]

I broke it messing with the fermentation chamber it was sitting on. Yeah, a scale is on the list! Just don't want to go further in the credit card hole! Any good sugestions for a good one that's not to exspensive?

I bought a digital chefmate kitchen scale at Target for like $30-35. It does. .05/ounces increments with i think a 4-4.5 lb max. can change back and forth to grams and will do 1 gram increments up to 2000g (which is what, 2kg, so 4.4 ish lbs - so it must max at 4.5 lbs) awesome for measuring hops, a little pain in butt for doing larger weights, but i like it a lot

i have a .5 gallon mason jar and my stir plate had a difficult time with it--it's because the bottom is curved and not flat- same issue as your growler. it works, but the stir bar rattles around and the noise drives me nuts!!