Starter question

[EmuJane]

My husband and I are just getting in to brewing, and so far have only made batches from kits. My mother in law got us another kit for my birthday, which came with liquid yeast. Even though the directions that came with the kit don't mention making a starter, we've read that it's a good idea.
My question, since we don't have a ton of ingredients lying around, would it mess with the batch to use some of the DME that came with the kit to make a starter, or do we need to go out and buy some so that the proportions remain the same? I'm thinking that it'll be such a small amount, and added back into the brew anyhow, it won't matter, but I'm excited about this batch, so I thought I'd ask.

 

[brtisbuck]

What is the projected og of the kit and which liquid yeast? You can get away with up to 1.05 or so with a Wyeast pack and no starter.

 

[bobbrews]

Use this link to determine the starter size you need:

http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

Example: Ale, 1.065 OG, 5.0 Gallons, 97% Yeast Cell Viability, 4/3/2012 Yeast Processing Date, Liquid Ale Yeast

This requires: 225 billion cells, 2.6 vials or packs "without" starter or 1 vial or pack "with" starter, 1.72 liters of total starter required as long as Intermittent Shaking is employed. This means every now and then, you swirl the completed yeast starter to revive the yeast cake on the bottom, which somewhat forces the yeast to remain active and keep eating.

The recipe:

Mix 1 cup extra light or lightdry malt extract (DME) to 1000 ml water is the typical ratio. That's really all the ingredients you'll need. For 1.72 liters, you'll want more like 1-3/4 cups DME to 1700 ml water. It's always wise to have extra DME on hand to make starters.

The procedure:

If you're using a Wyeast smack pack, you'll need to remove it from the refrigerator and smack the pack the night before you make your starter (or at least a couple hours prior to even thinking about making the starter so that it swells up like a balloon). If using a White Labs vial, you'll want to remove it from the refrigerator and bring to room temp before proceeding further.

First, sanitize all of your equipment (beaker, funnel, sealed yeast pack, scissors, thermometer, aluminum foil, foam stopper, etc.) I use a cap of StarSan and cold water as my sanitation mixture. Next, make an ice-bath in your sink to reach half-way the height of your pot.

Meanwhile, in an uncovered saucepot, bring the DME/water mixture to a boil and lower to a simmer for about 8 minutes. During the last 20 seconds or so, place a tight fitting lid on the pot. You want to avoid boilovers so don't top the pot too early. Shut off the heat and place the covered pot in the ice-bath. Wait for it to cool to 60-70 F. DO NOT keep removing the lid, or touch the cooled mixture by any means with any piece of unsanitized equipment.

Afterward, pour the cooled wort (preboiled DME + water) into the sanitized beaker. Tightly seal the top of the beaker with a small section of sanitized foil and shake the hell out of the mixture to aerate it. Cut the yeast pack with your sanitized scissors and pour into the wort. Gently stir (not vigorously shake) to incorporate rather well, add foam stopper, keep in the 60s or low 70s away from light for 2-3 days, stirring occassionally everytime you can. This revives the yeast from the bottom of the beaker so that it keeps eating the sugars.

On the night of day two, or the morning of day 3, place the beaker in the refrigerator and avoid agitation by all means. After at least 10 hours, remove the starter gently from the refrigerator and set it on the countertop while you prepare to brew. When your large wort has cooled to the 60s, gently decant or pour off 90% of the clear starter wort into your sink. Be careful not to throw out any yeast. The point here is to discard the plain tasting wort and to reserve the yeast cells. Once you have about 10% liquid left in the starter wort, swirl to incorporate the yeast as one.

Next, vigorously shake or pump O2 into your large wort without the yeast. You need a lot of oxygen in the beginning for adequate yeast health (after the first day or so of fermentation, oxygen becomes more and more the enemy). Finally, pitch the decanted yeast starter slurry into the larger volume of wort. Cap with a filled airlock, keep in the 60s or low 70s, and wait 2-4 weeks.

 

[BigBlueDog]

I'm thinking that it'll be such a small amount, and added back into the brew anyhow, it won't matter, but I'm excited about this batch, so I thought I'd ask.

Agreed, you're only talking about a cup or two of the DME as the example above suggests.

 

[LiquidFlame]

Go out and buy some DME, this way you have some on hand the next time you make a starter.

 

[Pie_Man]

My question, since we don't have a ton of ingredients lying around, would it mess with the batch to use some of the DME that came with the kit to make a starter, or do we need to go out and buy some so that the proportions remain the same? I'm thinking that it'll be such a small amount, and added back into the brew anyhow, it won't matter, but I'm excited about this batch, so I thought I'd ask.

What's the OG of the recipe and the date on the liquid yeast packet? From there we can estimate the size of the starter needed and how using the DME from your recipe to make a starter might affect things.

Personally, I find it best to have some DME on hand, so I've always just bought extra DME..

 

[Aschecte]

well I would reccomend getting more DME .... reason being I assume you will be brewing more batches hence more starters. a one pound DME bag will last appx 4-5 maybe more starters. Also I assume you already have a flask to make the starter in, to really get the best results you should also use a stir plate.