wort for yeast starter

[gonpce]

I'm planning on brewing a pale ale on Saturday and wanted to save some of the wort to use for a yeast starter for the next batch. I plan to freeze this wort. Should I collect the wort before the boil or after or does it matter? I'm new at this, so any help would be appreciated.

 

[seckert]

I would collect it prior to any hop additions. If you let it heat up over the 170 mark you at least know it is sanatized...

 

[MindenMan]

In my understanding, a 1.040 wort starter is a good gravity to begin with. Quite a while back, I purchased a 1 pound bag of DME to use for making starters. I agree with seckert, remove starter before the addition of hops.
It's not a giant deal, it just gives you a little more trub. I use 1/2 cup of DME to 16 oz of water before boiling to sanitize

 

[TopherM]

Most starter calculators assume a 1.036 OG of the starter wort. I'd pull the starter wort from the phase of your Saturday brew that is closest to 1.036. Probably pre-boil (after 170F to sanitize), but I'd rather be a little over than under.

 

[Warthaug]

It doesn't really matter when you pull your wort for the starter; so long as its gravity is in the range of 1.035 to 1.040 it will work as a starter. The best argument for removing it before the addition of hops is simply that a strongly hopped starter wort will carry those flavours over to the beer brewed with those yeast - same is true of a dark wort or otherwise strongly flavoured wort.

If you're freezing the wort you'll need to boil it to sanitize it before making your starter, so you could even pull it off of the sparge and freeze without boiling it.

Bryan

 

[gonpce]

Thanks for the help.