Making a starter

Share your experiences of using brewing yeast.
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Niall K

Making a starter

Post by Niall K » Tue Apr 03, 2007 5:49 pm

Received Yeast 1968 London Esb in the post today for my extract ESB. The instructions on the back of the packet says to make a starter wort, Add 100grams of dried malt extract to 1 litre of water. Boil for 10 minutes. Cool, aerate and pour into a sterile jar and cover. Incubate the starter at 21-24 C for 24 – 48 hours.
Now my question, I have no dried malt extract. Will anything else do or do I need to order dried malt extract before I brew?

Oscar Brewer

yeast starter

Post by Oscar Brewer » Tue Apr 03, 2007 6:44 pm

You can use liquid malt extract if you have some; just use a little more,
I suggest about 125g instead of 100g dried.
Oscar Brewer

Niall K

Post by Niall K » Tue Apr 03, 2007 7:09 pm

The recipe I have needs 2kg of liquid malt extract and I have 2 tins of 1.5kg. That means I have 3kg with 1 kg to spare. But if I open 1 tin of extract to use 125g off in the yeast starter, will the opened tin be all right to use in 2 days time with my brew? Since it takes 1 - 2 days for the starter to be ready tp pitch in? :? :?

Niall K

Post by Niall K » Tue Apr 03, 2007 7:30 pm

Thank Daab. I'm slowly learning :)

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johnmac
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Post by johnmac » Wed Apr 04, 2007 10:16 am

any bacteria will get killed off during the boil.
That boil is essential because once opened, malt extract will be a bug farm.

BarryNL

Post by BarryNL » Wed Apr 04, 2007 3:15 pm

johnmac wrote:
any bacteria will get killed off during the boil.
That boil is essential because once opened, malt extract will be a bug farm.
Is concentrate that bad? Certainly once it's diluted down to wort strength it's a problem but at LME concentration I don't think many bacteria can really get going in it.

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johnmac
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Post by johnmac » Mon Apr 09, 2007 5:05 pm

I thought it was that bad! Maybe someone like Steve Flack can give an informed answer?

UserDeleted

Post by UserDeleted » Mon Apr 09, 2007 5:10 pm

Mould will grow on the surface, but I suspect that this is localised to where moisture has landed and so the concentration is less. Bacteria are capable of growing anywhere, but wort spoilage ones are likely to struggle in neat LME, and as you are going to boil it all anyway . . . .

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johnmac
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Post by johnmac » Thu Apr 12, 2007 9:51 am

Barry, sorry for giving you duff gen!

steve_flack

Post by steve_flack » Thu Apr 12, 2007 10:29 am

johnmac wrote:I thought it was that bad! Maybe someone like Steve Flack can give an informed answer?
Informed? Hmmm... :roll:

Anyway, here's my uninformed opinion. Malt extract is like Jam - a very high sugar environment only with a lot more micronutrients. Mould grows on Jam - it probably grows better on LME. Mould is more of a worry than bugs as moulds can put out toxins that aren't removed by boiling.

But for a couple of days with the LME clingfilmed you should be fine.

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