Yeast Starter Question

[Turk10mm]

I'm about to pop my cherry on my first batches of brew. I've assisted a friend through the process a few times in the past, so I have a very basic knowledge of what I'm supposed to be doing. I've read How to Brew cover to cover and watched several of the great videos here to refresh my memory.

So, now that that's over, here's my question.

I have a 1000ml flask, not a 2000

My first batch is going to have a 1.048 OG. Mr. Malty says I can use a 1 litre starter for this which is fine.

My second batch, which I'll be starting a week later is going to have a 1.060 OG. Mr. Malty says I need 1.44 Liters - What do I do here? Can I still use my 1000ml Flask and cheat somehow or do I need to find a larger jar.

I've found other posts were people recommend getting a bigger flask, but what i want to know is can i do it, and if so what do i have to do to make it work. I'll probably end up getting a larger flask, but this is it for now.

Thanks for your help on my first post, and probably not my last.

Tony

 

[Kaz]

A 1000mL flask will hold more than 1000mL, but I'm not sure how much more. I cheap and easy fix would be to do your larger yeast starter in a 2L soda bottle (rinsed, cleaned and sanitized). Really, any container that you can loosely cap off should work, preferably taller than it is wide.

 

[dgoldb1]

You can build up your starter.

 

[kegtoe]

You can build up your starter.

+ a dozen on this coment. For your 1000mL flask do the following:

• Make your starter as normal.
• Let the starter complete. what i mean here is let the starter form its krausen and then let it fall.
• put your flask in the fridge for 12-24 hours.
• decant (pour off most of the liquid without disturbing the settled yeast)
• with the little liquid you have left swirl the flask to get the yeast back into suspension
• bring back up to room temperature.
• Make another starter batch on the stove, and cool
• Add this wort to your first decanted yeast

You won't quite double your yeast but it will be close. This is the process i used before i bought another flask. Also make sure you are swirling the flask as often as you can during your starter. it will help make sure youre little yeasties are always in suspension and are surounded by sugars.

The 2 best things i've recently done to ferment my beers is to buy a stirrer and buy a 2nd flask. I make a starter at 1.035 to 1.050 depending on my target OG of the beer i will brew. This happens in a 1000mL flask. I let it sit on the stirer for around 48 hours (or until the krausen appears and then falls).
i put the 1000mL flask in the fridge for a day and make another starter about 50% bigger in volume and just slightly higher in gravity. I decant my first starter and add the thick yeast mix to the second starter wort. I pitch the yeast as close to krausen as possible. I feel i get cleaner tasting beers and fermentation starts and finishes a lot faster.

PS the second flask i use is a 2000mL

 

[Turk10mm]

Thank you for the advice. Great informative help. Thank you!

 

[barrooze]

Another option would be just to pitch two vials/pouches of yeast into your starter. That would probably give you enough cells to compensate for the lesser volume.

As Kaz said above, I would just use a sanitized 2L bottle or a gallon jug (milk/water/cider). I do mine in normal plastic gallon jugs. Works great for me!