Yeast Starter with Munich Malt

[c0leman22]

BLUF: Can the sugar gained from steeping German Munich Malt make a good yeast starter?

I brewed a barley wine yesterday (1.095 OG) and needed a big yeast starter. I didn't have much DME (only about a cup and a half) so I added about 1/2 cup of corn sugar. Still thinking I needed more sugar for the larger starter, I remembered that I still ha about 1/2 lb of Munich left over so I threw it in a muslin bag and steeped it for 30 mins at 155F with the DME and corn sugar. After hydrating 21g of copper's ale yeast, I pitched into the starter. So was my attempt to get more sugar by using the Munich malt futile or did I get anything out of it? The next day, the starter seemed to be doing well but I'm no yeast master.

 

[Snowhere]

Sure you can but I would not have used your DME and sugar solution to steep it in. I would of used just water and steep for a longer time unless you did a iodine test to see if you have total conversion. Then do a miny sparge and sloe drain off to get maximum yield off the grain. My concern with using the mixture to steep is you may have lost some in the process.

Plus, did you boil everything (liquid, not yeast) for ten minutes to kill any bugs?

 

[Kaz]

Mashing the Munich for 30 minutes probably only contributed about 2 gravity points in the end.