Storing wort starters without pressure cooker?

[ghart999]

I want to make wort startes and store them in mason jars but I do not want to have to buy a pressure cooker and going through all that. Any other means to store them long term? Can I just pour them into a sanitized mason jar and fereeze them? Or store them in the fridge in the high 30s?

Thanks all.

 

[jprice]

As long as you boil the jar and water, it will be sanitized. You wouldn't want to pressure cook or freeze the yeast, that will kill them. I store mine in the fridge and they will usually keep for 6-8months.

 

[somedudefromguam]

I don't even boil them. I just throw the mason jar or swing-top bottle into some iodophor at the end of the boil and then fill it up, label it and toss it in the fridge. The cold in the fridge keeps it safe from any wild bacteria, and it will keep for more than a month. It also helps when I forget to take a hydrometer reading... And I actually quit taking the time to do all that, now I use a couple grams of sugar per ounce of water to start my yeast. I have heard that when priming, you only want to give your yeasts around 1.030 gravity. The reason for this is when you pitch the yeast, there is a change in environment. If you prime with 1.060 wort, you put the yeast in an environment with 6 or 7 percent alcohol and when you pitch into your wort, there is almost no alcohol, this can shock the yeast some, and it may take longer to achieve and active ferment witch can lead to off flavors. yadda yadda. Also, I think the yeast can mutate eventually when it is subjected to high alcohol levels. If you are hell bent on using 100% hops, water, and grains; when it came time to prime the yeasts, I would just dilute the wort to close to 1.030 and boil for a minute, chill and prime! And if by wort starters, you mean primed yeast, then you should already have it in a sanitized container, then just throw it in the fridge and you are good. Or sanitize a mason jar w/ iodophor and transfer. Sorry for being long winded. Just trying to be thorough and concise.
Good luck and have fun!

 

[509inc]

I am interested in this as well. I do not think the above answer address the question as I read it.

Are you guys saying that I can make a quart of wort and store it at room temp or freeze them without pasteurization?

 

[ccudc9]

You could freeze it, I am not sure if the shelf life would be shortened compared to "Canning" I am assuming it would be.

 

[Yooper]

I am interested in this as well. I do not think the above answer address the question as I read it.

Are you guys saying that I can make a quart of wort and store it at room temp or freeze them without pasteurization?

No, you can NOT store it at room temperature unless it's been pressure canned. Even if you seal the jars, you can not do this safely. Wort is NOT safe for boiling water canning, and must be done in a pressure cooker to ensure no botulism spores survive. Pickling is a high-acid food, and can be done safely in a boiling water bath. But low acid foods (everything from veggies to meat to wort) can NOT be safely canned that way.

However, it can be frozen safely and used after bringing it to a brief boil. I had a couple of tupperware pitchers with a tight seal that worked perfectly for this. It still needs to be boiled wort (not just out of the mash tun, but boiled for a couple of minutes first) and then it can be safely frozen.

 

[509inc]

That works for me.

 

[kapbrew13]

You could freeze it, I am not sure if the shelf life would be shortened compared to "Canning" I am assuming it would be. You also could probably sterilize the mason jars in boiling water, attach the lids and seals, then place in a water bath until the lids suck down. I believe a pressure cooker is just easier but you could get the same result. Just like canning pickles without a pressure cooker.

Pressure cooking is to heat at higher then boiling temps. Not just to suck the lids shut. Right?

 

[ghart999]

So if I boil the wort and freeze do I still need to boil again after thawing? If I have to reboil after thawing, it kinds loses the whole point of avoiding boiling and cooling.

 

[kapbrew13]

So if I boil the wort and freeze do I still need to boil again after thawing? If I have to reboil after thawing, it kinds loses the whole point of avoiding boiling and cooling.

So simple with a pressure cooker.
1.Mix dme and warm water or wort from brew day.
2. Put into mason jars and lid
3. Pressure cook
4. Let cool and store at room temp

Not too much work. Your original post sounded like it was too much work and not the cost

 

[Bert1097]

So simple with a pressure cooker.
1.Mix dme and warm water or wort from brew day.
2. Put into mason jars and lid
3. Pressure cook
4. Let cool and store at room temp

Not too much work. Your original post sounded like it was too much work and not the cost

So no problems w/ the wort inside of a sealed mason jar under that much heat? Very curious......just may have saved me a lotta work.

 

[ghart999]

So simple with a pressure cooker.
1.Mix dme and warm water or wort from brew day.
2. Put into mason jars and lid
3. Pressure cook
4. Let cool and store at room temp

Not too much work. Your original post sounded like it was too much work and not the cost

What's the biggest reasonable-size cooker to fit at least 4-6 mason jars in at a time? Ideally I would like to be able to fill about 10 mason jars with wort.

Also how long will they stay at room temp? 6 months? 1 year?

 

[kapbrew13]

So no problems w/ the wort inside of a sealed mason jar under that much heat? Very curious......just may have saved me a lotta work.

The heat will kill everything and the pressure will draw the air out, thus sealing the jar. So you can now store your wort @room temps. Under your bed, in your desk, in the kid's toy chest, anywhere you want.

 

[kapbrew13]

What's the biggest reasonable-size cooker to fit at least 4-6 mason jars in at a time? Ideally I would like to be able to fill about 10 mason jars with wort.

Also how long will they stay at room temp? 6 months? 1 year?

I have a 23Q presto 1781. It holds 8 qt mason jars + 10 pint mason jars stacked onto of qt jars.

1 qt jar is good for a 1L starter.

pint jars are filled with water or wort. Sanitized water is for collecting some yeast from starter for later use.

 

[RugenBrau]

At what pressure and for how long should you can your wort?

 

[kapbrew13]

at what pressure and for how long?

15 psi for 15 minutes. Take the rings off when done so they don't rust.

The rings are needed only to hold lid while the pressure seals the lid.

 

[Brewskii]

So no problems w/ the wort inside of a sealed mason jar under that much heat? Very curious......just may have saved me a lotta work.

Think of the lid as a check valve. The gasket material is designed to "flow" at temp. This allows pressure to vent along with air. High pressure inside the canner allows for super heating steam which raises the temperature to "super boiling" temps killing thermophylic strains of food spoilers.
Once cooled, the gaskets seal on the jar and as the liquid vapor condenses the gas volume decreases and forms a vacuum sealing it in. Any bacteria that grows from there on will produce gas which will cause the lid "button" to pop and for the jar to loose it's seal. Never use any canned anything that's not sealed (popped).
Food spoilers and pathogens don't like acid so as a foot note, the more acidic something is, the lower the temp needs to be to preserve it. There's rules for all that stuff that are readily available on line or from your local cooperative extension.

 

[Budzu]

I would not attempt storage of wort at all without autoclaving, even as short as 24 hours. The time it takes for organisms to thrive in the sweet wort is very short. Just a boil in an open kettle doesn't guarantee the kill like a closed autoclave or pressure cooker does. ANY exposure to air after boiling makes any storage time unreliable.
I've used hundreds of mason jars of wort successfully for a long time, and only once had an issue of a lid not being sealed completely. It was shut tight, but not vacuum sealed. After a couple of weeks when opening it had visual growth, horrid smell and taste.

I would always smell and taste test a sample of each jar after opening.

 

[Brewskii]

I would always smell and taste test a sample of each jar after opening.

Oder of operations is critical. If first test fails, do not proceed.


"... Neither shalt thou countest two, excepting that thou proceedest on to three...."