Yeast starter without dme

[elgee]

Is it possible to make a yeast starter without using dme, and instead making an all grain starter with let's say 2 row? I wonder if it is possible to make a really small all grain mash and Follow the same process to make the starter as if you we're using dme? Perhaps 2 cups of the AG wort boiled for 10 minutes, cooled and add the yeast?

 

[Pratzie]

in theory its the same thing as long as u stay with a simple grain and don't make it with complex sugars. U wanna keep those sugars close to the sugars ur gonna have in ur batch of wort.

 

[kingwood-kid]

If you do all-grain, when you are finished collecting your wort, you can keep sparging and keep the weak runnings as a starter. Just freeze it, then boil to sanitize as needed. Your way would work fine too; you can save some money/2-row by using about 50% boiled rice or corn in the mash.

 

[Jayhem]

I started heating extra sparge water and doing just that. When I make a moderate gravity beer, after I hit my boil volume I can sparge again and get wort that is 1.030-1.040 easily 2-3 quarts or so, freeze until ready to make a starter and just boil like you would for DME, saves the mess and cost of DME.

 

[reverendj1]

A lot of people do this or use their second runnings. You can also make a big batch, store it in sanitized containers, and freeze it for future use. If you have a pressure cooker, some people use that, so they can store it at room temperature. Personally it doesn't seem worth the time for me, so I've never done it. I think for a 1L starter the DME per starter comes in around $1.

 

[BetterSense]

I'm lazy so I even cut out the boiling.

When I'm brewing, before I start chilling my brew, I ladle out a enough boiling wort to fill a canning jar up, then put a lid on it and tip it over to sanitize the lid.

When I need to make a starter, I get the canning jar out of my pantry (still sealed), pour it in a sanitized flash, and dilute with a bit of bottled water and pitch my yeast. Easier and cheaper. It's all about the slack.

 

[elgee]

Guess I am not the first person to think about this! Since the base of my recipe is primarily 2 row, and if I make a 2 row starter I don't even need to decant it off since its the same wort as in the recipe.

 

[Pratzie]

I'm lazy so I even cut out the boiling.

When I'm brewing, before I start chilling my brew, I ladle out a enough boiling wort to fill a canning jar up, then put a lid on it and tip it over to sanitize the lid.

When I need to make a starter, I get the canning jar out of my pantry (still sealed), pour it in a sanitized flash, and dilute with a bit of bottled water and pitch my yeast. Easier and cheaper. It's all about the slack.

I like it.

 

[elgee]

I just hate the idea of pitting dme in an all grain beer...not that their's anything wrong with extract brewing, as I started off with that, but I get a lot if satisfaction in making the wort from scratch.

 

[Doed]

Woodlandbrew has a very interesting idea/plan. Please check out his blog for details that I am sure to exclude. Basically you boil your wort, put about ½ into the primary fermentor and the other ½ into another. Pitch your liquid yeast into the primary, wait 24 hours, which should be about the time krausen is starting to form, then add the remaining wort to the primary. In that first 24 hours, the yeast will multiply as they would in a normal starter so when you add the remaining wort there are enough yeast to ferment all the wort.

I just remembered one thing, which is why you should defintely check out Woodlandbrew's blog for the correct details, this works for a 5 gallon batch of standard ales around 1.060 gravity or below.

Here is the link.

 

[zachattack]

I'm lazy so I even cut out the boiling.

When I'm brewing, before I start chilling my brew, I ladle out a enough boiling wort to fill a canning jar up, then put a lid on it and tip it over to sanitize the lid.

When I need to make a starter, I get the canning jar out of my pantry (still sealed), pour it in a sanitized flash, and dilute with a bit of bottled water and pitch my yeast. Easier and cheaper. It's all about the slack.

I don't think this is safe. I thought with wort the only safe way to preserve it (at room temperature) was to pressure can it? I believe there's a significant botulism risk.

 

[Nomad]

Woodlandbrew has a very interesting idea/plan. Please check out his blog for details that I am sure to exclude. Basically you boil your wort, put about ½ into the primary fermentor and the other ½ into another. Pitch your liquid yeast into the primary, wait 24 hours, which should be about the time krausen is starting to form, then add the remaining wort to the primary. In that first 24 hours, the yeast will multiply as they would in a normal starter so when you add the remaining wort there are enough yeast to ferment all the wort.

I just remembered one thing, which is why you should defintely check out Woodlandbrew's blog for the correct details, this works for a 5 gallon batch of standard ales around 1.060 gravity or below.

Here is the link.

That is a killer idea. My one concern is that the main reason I make a starter us to make sure I've got healthy active yeast. Whether I pitch a vial or a smack pack, the pace of fermentation is usually slow, unless I use a starter. All I can think is that the yeast I'm buying at my LHBS has been handled poorly and is in terrible shape. I buy yeast from three did stores in the area, and the results are always the same-- no starter, lame ferment. I'm trying this for sure, though.-- seems like the volume of wort fermented In this case would not be overwhelming to the yeast, much like in a starter.