Making a Yeast Starter - Brew Your Own Magazine

[EricDMott]

Listen to the basic brewing radio episode about starter experiments. There is a dramatic increase in yeast production when you just use tin foil. It allows O2 to get into the vessel and sustain the active yeast.

[matthewgarvin]

Looks great, but I've heard conflicting information on airlock use in starters. Is there a definitive judgement on this?

[ShitMyCatsOnFire]

@matthewgarvin Airlock isn't necessary. Just loosely cover the top with aluminum foil. Air needs to be able to get into the starter.

[UtilitasNL]

is it possible to use yeast from beer that yeasts while it's in the bottle, instead of any liquid or grain yeast?

thnx

[wildknightz]

I disagree with the airlock. The healthiest yeast are the ones grown in an oxygen rich environment, not when forced to ferment. Any time you starve yeast of oxygen and force them to ferment, then you reduce the health and viability of the cells. They need oxygen to provide for their cell wall integrity after budding. Putting them in an environment with alcohol and without oxygen reduces the health of the yeast. Basically, all you are making here is a yeast cake: stressed, exhausted cells.

[4slagel]

@wildknightz oxygen during the initial 12 hours or so, after that, they simply convert the simple sugars and multiply. Read "Yeast - the practical guide to beer fermention" by Chris White (White labs) and Jamil Zainasheff. Volume of wort relative to volume of yeast cells is critical to growth.

[Graham1983]

Another great video James!

[brewyourownmagazine]

The airlock allows the carbon dioxide produced during this mini-fermentation to safely escape. Before you put the airlock with rubber stopper on, you should try to get as much oxygen into the wort by at the very least splashing it around a bit so air mixing in before you add the yeast. Good luck with your brewing!

[Aschecteable]

Stupid question but during those few days of making the starter don't you want to allow oxygen into the starter? I was always told the yeast needs this oxygen in order to reprduce. wouldn't an airlock prevent this? ie. a foam stopper.

[Aschecteable]

Stupid question but during those few days of making the starter don't you want to allow oxygen into the starter? I was always told the yeast needs this oxygen in order to reprduce. wouldn't an airlock prevent this?

[EdWort]

John Palmer's How to Brew Book recommends 1/2 cup Dried Malt Extract to 1/2 quart of water (or 1 pint) for a starter of 1.040. Wouldn't yours be half as strong since you are recommending twice as much water?

[basicbrewing]

@EdWort I can only tell you that in my personal experience, that's the gravity I end up with after boiling the recipe for ten minutes. Perhaps after boiling, the volume is closer to John's pint instead of the original quart. I suggest you try it yourself and see what your setup nets as an original gravity. I'd say the most important thing is not to get a wort that is too high in gravity. You don't want to stress your yeast at this phase. Cheers!

[dwalken]

I would suggest just using aluminum foil instead of an airlock. That way when you do manually stir you get are able to get some oxygen in there that will help promote growth.

[HanFett92]

Once again James Spencer comes to the rescue! I feel that a yeast starter is essential for any batch of beer. This makes it easy to understand how to make one.

[eggbass]

Very helpful!