I was just curious how you make one. Some say the taste difference is negligible compared to your usual dme starter, some say you can notice a difference (maybe with bigger starters?). Either way, I’d like to give it a try. Any instructions/format to follow?
Thanks for any help.
You mash enough grain with enough water to get the size starter you want. Shoot for a 1.035 OG. Anyone who says they can taste a difference needs to do a blind tasting.
I suppose that gravity is what I should have been asking for. Thanks, Denny.
14.2oz base malt mashed with 2.25 quarts of water for 30 minutes @ 150ish, remove grains, boil for 10 minutes and I hit 1.040 for my starters. I am new to making starters but I do all grain and this works for me.
You might get better starter performance with a slightly weaker gravity. I shoot for 1.035 and sometimes 1.025. Might be worth a try to compare.
Awesome I will definitely try that next time and compare notes. Thanks.
There’s not going to be any difference in the starter medium as long as you are using maltose as far as flavor goes. Whoever told you that is delusional.
THIS^^^^^
I just mash a batch of beer shooting for a 1.030 SG from the runnings and pressure can it. When I want a starter I will just pop the top, add the yeast and throw it on the stir plate. I tried boiling and then canning to get rid of the hot break and you never can get rid of it so I quit boiling it ahead of time since it will boil while in the pressure canner. The wort will darken from the canning and it will continue to darken over time in the jar due to maillard reactions. For that reason I generally just do a pils malt base for the canned starters.
Agreed
Maybe there is a flavor difference if your starter uses a large amount of a prominent specialty malt like black malt. But then I’d wonder why you’d ever do that. Starters are made using base malt.