Priming & yeast starter questions

[barefoot_trashko]

I’m a first time homebrewer and I live in China. A couple of buddies and I were able to round up (with some difficulty) all the equipment we needed and found a supplier online who has all the grains. We currently have our first batch in our secondary fermenter. We harvested some yeast and I have 3, 400-500ml bottles in my fridge. Our only option was all grain as there is no HB shop down the street to go buy extract. I’ve been reading Palmer’s How to Brew and I’m a little confused about priming and yeast starters. He keeps talking about DME and I’m assuming that’s the kind that you buy in the store. All I’ve got is dry grain but not DME, right? If I haven’t gone through the mashing process it is not extract yet. Boiling crushed grain for a priming solution will do me no good, correct? Am I better off trying to use corn/cane sugar?

Then for the yeast starter, same question regarding DME. I’ve got the bottles I mentioned above sitting in my fridge. What am I supposed to do with them in order to be able to pitch them? Specifics about amounts would be appreciated here.

Thanks for helping a newbie out!

 

[MalFet]

Some of your terminology is off, so I am not completely sure that I am following you here. But, here's a general summary of what is going on.

Grain from the fields goes to a maltster and gets turned into malted barley, malted wheat, etc. It is very important that the grains you bought online are "malted" and not just regular barley. This malted grain is then "mashed", soaked in a particular temperature of water for a particular period of time. Grains should not be boiled. Mashing converts starches (which are useless to yeast) into sugars (which are useful). The liquid that you drain off after mashing should be quite sweet and is called wort.

DME (dry malt extract) is just a dried powder form of wort. It is dried in the same kind of process that is used to make dry milk powder, for example. LME (liquid malt extract) is a concentrated syrup of wort. When people talk about extract, they generally mean one of these two things. To make a starter, people often use DME because it is easier than mashing grains. If you don't have access to DME, you wil need to make your own wort through mashing for your yeast starters (mini-fermentations used to help get your yeast populations to the right levels).

Priming is a way to get carbonation in bottles. People typically carbonate using corn or cane sugar. Starters should not be made with cane or corn sugar.

To understand starters and yeast pitching rates, read this page and use this calculator.

 

[barefoot_trashko]

Malfet thanks for the help. Sorry if I confused you. I understand mashing since I've already done an AG batch. You answered my question that I would have to make new wort for priming since I don't have access to DME. Sounds like a lot of work when I could just use cane/corn sugar!

Also, I wasn't suggesting to use sugar for a yeast starter. I have bottles of slurry an I checked out mrmalty's online calculator. I don't have DME so I don't want to mess with trying to make a starter. I've read that letting the slurry reach room temp and then pitching it is sufficient. Gonna try that.

 

[MalFet]

Malfet thanks for the help. Sorry if I confused you. I understand mashing since I've already done an AG batch. You answered my question that I would have to make new wort for priming since I don't have access to DME. Sounds like a lot of work when I could just use cane/corn sugar!

Also, I wasn't suggesting to use sugar for a yeast starter. I have bottles of slurry an I checked out mrmalty's online calculator. I don't have DME so I don't want to mess with trying to make a starter. I've read that letting the slurry reach room temp and then pitching it is sufficient. Gonna try that.

Sounds good. Didn't mean to imply you didn't understand the basics, but I wasn't sure either way. You made me nervous when you mentioned boiling grains.

Some people like using DME for priming, but I don't think anybody would claim that it is miles above corn sugar. Corn sugar is probably the "default" option.

Congrats on brewing in adverse circumstances. I am just south of you and can relate to the challenges

 

[ayoungrad]

I have heard elsewhere on here that some people use malta for starters if they dont have DME. It is essentially unfermented wort. You can usually find it in bottles or jars in soda sections at markets - sometimes it is in the latin food section. Not sure if they sell it in China but it's worth a shot if you decide you want to do a starter and have no DME.

 

[barefoot_trashko]

Sounds good. Didn't mean to imply you didn't understand the basics, but I wasn't sure either way. You made me nervous when you mentioned boiling grains.

Some people like using DME for priming, but I don't think anybody would claim that it is miles above corn sugar. Corn sugar is probably the "default" option.

Congrats on brewing in adverse circumstances. I am just south of you and can relate to the challenges

Where are you located?

 

[MalFet]

Where are you located?

Nepal