Yeast starter - Airlock or foil?

[grimeey]

Hey all - I just did my first yeast starter last night - been just dumping the vial from my LHBS into the fermenter with decent results until now. I've read many posts about Yeast starters and the main question is should I use an airlock or sanitized foil? I used foil on the one last night..

 

[sonetlumiere85]

Personally, I use a foam stopper. It allows oxygen in, but nothing bad. Since oxygen is helpful for yeast growth, it works really well. Airlocks don't allow oxygen in, so I don't see much point in using one, except to see CO2 escaping, which is sorta silly. I've also used the tinfoil method, and it works pretty well.

 

[Nugent]

+1 on tinfoil, but I just picked up some foam stoppers for my 2000 ml flask.

 

[ruffdeezy]

I used an airlock until I got a stirplate from stirstarters, now I use foil, I am constantly acquiring new equipment, almost weekly, lol

 

[bjzelectric]

I use foil too. Never a problem. Knock on wood.

 

[Bizoune]

Another vote for foil...

 

[lucasszy]

+1 on foil, but this foam stopper thing is sounding good. Any links to foam stoppers?

 

[BioBeing]

There has been a lot of discussion on here about this. As far as I can tell, the best solution is just foil. An airlock is essentially a one way valve that lest the CO2 out, but no O2 in. At least with foil there can be some diffusion of O2 in.

 

[Montanaandy]

I have a 100% success rate using foil. Fold it to a 3x3 or so square, spray it with Starsan, fold it loosely over the top and you are good to go. Cheap & effective. Montanaandy

 

[sonetlumiere85]

There has been a lot of discussion on here about this. As far as I can tell, the best solution is just foil. An airlock is essentially a one way valve that lest the CO2 out, but no O2 in. At least with foil there can be some diffusion of O2 in.

Right, and foam stoppers let oxygen in but provide an essentially impenetrable barrier for bad stuff, and they also allow CO2 to escape. Seriously, they're like $1 each, even cheaper in some places. For my money, they're much better than tinfoil. The only downside is that if you build too big or too vigorous a starter for the container the starter is in, the krausen can potentially get in it, and either push it out or dry it out. The stopper can then get stuck in the neck of the flask. I know because this has happened to me.


Anyway, here's what I'm talking about:
http://www.northernbrewer.com/default/foam-stopper-35-45mm.html
http://www.northernbrewer.com/default/foam-stopper-46-50mm.html

 

[Montanaandy]

"foam stoppers let oxygen in but provide an essentially impenetrable barrier for bad stuff, and they also allow CO2 to escape"

How so? Everything that I have ready (and I have read a great deal on this) recommends using foil and indicates that the ability of bacteria to enter is negated by the escaping CO2 which provides a fairly sterile environment. Again, I base my statements on personal experience and I have had a 100% success rate on each starter using foil. Believe me if foil did not work I would switch to something else but it works great.

I asked my LHBS guy who has been in business for 30 years why he does not carry the foam stoppers and he indicated that he ran into sanitation issues with them when he did carry them so he stopped carrying them. It is pretty common for a starter to foam up past the neck of the flask and if the foam stopper is saturated with wort it would become a potential breeding ground for bacteria. Montanaandy

 

[BioBeing]

Well, actually we used to use foam stoppers in the lab for bacterial growth. I have nothing against them, but foil is just generally more readily available.

 

[sonetlumiere85]

"foam stoppers let oxygen in but provide an essentially impenetrable barrier for bad stuff, and they also allow CO2 to escape"

How so? Everything that I have ready (and I have read a great deal on this) recommends using foil and indicates that the ability of bacteria to enter is negated by the escaping CO2 which provides a fairly sterile environment. Again, I base my statements on personal experience and I have had a 100% success rate on each starter using foil. Believe me if foil did not work I would switch to something else but it works great.

I asked my LHBS guy who has been in business for 30 years why he does not carry the foam stoppers and he indicated that he ran into sanitation issues with them when he did carry them so he stopped carrying them. It is pretty common for a starter to foam up past the neck of the flask and if the foam stopper is saturated with wort it would become a potential breeding ground for bacteria. Montanaandy

Like I said, they're not always a perfect solution, but they're what I personally prefer. I never said tinfoil didn't work. I'm not sure why they would be hard to sanitize - you can either dunk them in sanitizer, or just boil them in the neck of the flask.

As with everything in brewing, there are a million ways to do everything

 

[mordantly]

foam stopper all the way.. but they aren't for beakers, etc.

 

[MattHollingsworth]

+1 on foil.

 

[Mirilis]

I must be a hobo.. i use paper towel to cover the top then put a rubber band on it to keep crap from falling in it but allowing O2 in and CO2 out

 

[Saccharomyces]

I've seen a coffee filter used as well. Bacteria don't have legs, they need to arrive on dust particles, so as long as you use something to keep dust out you are going to be fine.

 

[Revvy]

Foil for me nowadays.

 

[lucasszy]

I must be a hobo.. i use paper towel to cover the top then put a rubber band on it to keep crap from falling in it but allowing O2 in and CO2 out

My recent and very successful Trader Joes vintage ale yeast harvest used a paper towel and painters tape to hold it all together, and the yeast sediment looks perfect. Probably going to be freezing it this weekend!

Cheers

Lucas

 

[aeonderdonk]

I use foil

 

[grimeey]

Thanks for all of the replies - It looks like I'll keep using foil...

 

[jaellman]

I've been playing back and forth, but just recently learned I've been wasting my time as I've been making starters with 11.5g Dry yeast packets, and from what I read, it doesn't help generate more yeast.

BUT, I first ran the airlock which did NOT function well. I later used Tin Foil which worked but recently started using the form stopper and have seen an increase in the intensity of the beginning fermentation.

Again, I'm fairly new so it could just be the difference in types of beer I've been making but it seemed to me the starter was stronger with the foam stopper.

My 2pennies... Which aren't worth much.

 

[steelersrbrun]

I have just been using an orange carboy cap with an inline sanitary air filter attached....I will periodically push pure O2 through the filter to fill the head space....Works great for me

 

[Overpanic]

So, I just used tin foil on a starter for the first time, and I can now say that I do NOT recommend it. Prior to this, I had only ever used airlocks, and without an issue, but with my new stirplate I built, I didn't have a stopper that would fit in a 2L Erlenmeyer flask.

Tinfoil does let CO2 out, and air in - but you know what else it lets in? Fruit flies. So I found my nice 1.5L starter swirling around on my stirplate with a fruitfly doing the backstroke in the vortex.

This required me to take an extra trip to the LHBS and purchase more yeast for the sulfited mead that I couldn't just leave lying around, and while I was there I made sure to pick up a proper stopper as well. For those of you who are concerned about the "one-way valve" effect with an airlock, I recommend that you use an aeration stone and pre-oxygenate your starter with pure O2 like I do.

The coffee filter and rubber-band idea also sounds like a viable one to me, but it does remind me of that old experiment disproving "spontaneous generation":

I'm not saying that it will happen, but it could, and thats enough to discourage me from using anything but an airlock. Filled with cheap vodka, preferably.

 

[Taypo]

We ordered a starter kit, came with the foam stopper. Worked pretty well on the first one, but it did get wet a couple times when I swirled the starter. Not sure how much contamination risk that causes, but it seems more convenient than foil.

 

[steelersrbrun]

So, I just used tin foil on a starter for the first time, and I can now say that I do NOT recommend it. Prior to this, I had only ever used airlocks, and without an issue, but with my new stirplate I built, I didn't have a stopper that would fit in a 2L Erlenmeyer flask.

Tinfoil does let CO2 out, and air in - but you know what else it lets in? Fruit flies. So I found my nice 1.5L starter swirling around on my stirplate with a fruitfly doing the backstroke in the vortex.

This required me to take an extra trip to the LHBS and purchase more yeast for the sulfited mead that I couldn't just leave lying around, and while I was there I made sure to pick up a proper stopper as well. For those of you who are concerned about the "one-way valve" effect with an airlock, I recommend that you use an aeration stone and pre-oxygenate your starter with pure O2 like I do.

The coffee filter and rubber-band idea also sounds like a viable one to me, but it does remind me of that old experiment disproving "spontaneous generation":

I'm not saying that it will happen, but it could, and thats enough to discourage me from using anything but an airlock. Filled with cheap vodka, preferably.

Thanks for this! That really sucks but a good lesson for the rest of us. I just listened to a BN episode with the whites about head pressure on fermentation and I was going to use foil on my next brew instead of an airlock. Don't want a fruit fly beer. Going to try the cap with inline filter instead on the fermentor this time.

 

[vera]

I used only foil until I had a fruitfly issue. Now I cut a piece of fabric from a paint strainer bag. I sanitize a rubber band, the fabric piece and a piece of foil. I attach the fabric to my flask with the rubber band and then cover it with the foil.

 

[Stauffbier]

I've always used foil, and I've never had a fruit fly doing the back stroke in my starter. I see fruit flies in my house every now and then, but no issues yet.

 

[Revvy]

I've always used foil, and I've never had a fruit fly doing the back stroke in my starter. I see fruit flies in my house every now and then, but no issues yet.

Me neither. I've been using the foil method since it first came into brewing consciousness on here 4 or more years ago. I've had much better starters and NEVER had a bugger in my starter, even when I've had them floating around.

If they're getting in, just maybe you're not crimping it tight enough around the rim or something.

 

[beerkrump]

+1 foil

Foil = Air Lock