Yeah I would suggest getting into yeast starters… It’s really needed to get your pitch count up high enough for most beers you brew. Buying 2-4 packs of yeast gets expensive real quick.
Agreed. I recommended using 2 packs because he didn’t seem comfortable with a starter. But long term, it’s obviously cheaper.
I know a guy who went all grain before buying a stir plate and flask. Oh, wait… I am a guy who went all grain before buying a stir plate and flask. I do that different if I had a time machine
Bah, I still don’t have a stir plate and my flask just sits in the cupboard. Half gallon mason jars and regular swirling works for me. I’ll save the stir plate money for ingredients
I built both my stir plates for maybe a $5 investment because I didn’t have any power switches sitting around. I had everything else, so it was simple.
Old hard drive for magnets, computer fan, cigar box, old Nokia power adapter.
Yep. My experience is that anything over 1.040 OG needs a starter.
I’m with you. The only reason I use a stir plate is because someone gave me one.
+1. Same here.
+2 - I rarely make starters because I only brew 3 gallon batches, but when I do (i.e., lagers) I just use a 1-gallon jug.
Someone gave me one when he moved, I bought a stir starter, and I won another stir starter in a raffle. I’m set for a while.
+1. I brewed the Surly Furious clone last year and used WLP007. It was great. I used the slurry for an Abrasive Ale clone, and that too was awesome.
yeah, but back when I was paid by the hour I was worth ~ 70-80 bucks an hour, so 5 bucks in parts plus ~1-2 hours and we’re talking serious money. ;D
I’ll bet that would make your homebrew pretty expensive, too, if you counted the time at that rate. :o
the difference being I ENJOY making beer and HATE working with electronics