I just finished testing my hydrometers and refractometer with sugar solutions of specific gravities, which got me to wondering, "If a yeast starter is for making yeast rather than making beer, is there anything wrong with making starter wort with table sugar rather than wort?
I’m sure it would require yeast nutrient. It would be a lot easier and cheaper. What am I missing?
The yeast will become aclimated to simple sugars, and will not do so well on Maltose is the thinking.
You could propagate the yeast with sugar at around 1oP if you add nutrients and continuously feed it. Not for me. That is how you get gluten free yeast as some suppliers advertise.
Yeah, you could grow yeast that don’t attenuate well since you start them on a diet of sucrose instead of maltose. Stick to malt.
Your yeast will also get fat and have cavities if you feed them sugar
And there’s a greater potential for them to develop diabetes
That’s an easy fix. Just throw some insulin producing bacteria in there.
No, but there’s yeast attention deficit hyperactivity disorder so pitch a little Ritalin with it avoid blow offs.
Dry yeast manufacturers propagate yeast using Molasses as the carbon source. One has to add a nitrogen source when using molasses as a carbon source. One quarter teaspoon of DAP per liter of 10% (1.040) solution should do the trick.
Molasses contains trace elements and vitamins in addition sucrose, glucose, and fructose. Sucrose is disaccharide composed of a glucose molecule bound to a fructose molecule. Yeast cells have to excrete invertase to break the glycosidic bond and free the monosaccharides.
Maolasses also has trace minerals, so along with the vitamins it is popular with the health food crowd. I found the Plantation Unsulfured Blackstrap, not at he grocery store, but at the local health mart. It will be used to make invert 2 and 3 using the dilution method and Golden Syrup as the base.
trace elements = trace minerals
If you want to make starters cheaper/easier, get a pressure canner and can a bunch of wort in advance.
You can take the final runnings on brewday, or just make an extract batch. It doesn’t take long to fill and heat, and it saves HOURS of boiling tiny extract batches on your stove top.
Poor reading on my part.
I just experienced my own senior moment, so I fully understand.
[quote]If you want to make starters cheaper/easier, get a pressure canner and can a bunch of wort in advance.
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It’s even easier to freeze the last runnings. I keep mine in a 1 gallon ice cream container.
It’s even easier to freeze the last runnings. I keep mine in a 1 gallon ice cream container.
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Interesting. I like easy and time saving. As long as it boils prior to use, what could be the issue?
Interesting. I like easy and time saving. As long as it boils prior to use, what could be the issue?
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I do this often, usually for beers where you still have some extract left after the kettle is full. Roughly 1.060 and over beers, why let it go to waste?
You don’t even have to boil it a second time. I just pour the near-boiling wort into a milk jug, cap it to pasteurize, then thaw it and pour directly into the starter vessel when I need it.
[quote]You don’t even have to boil it a second time. I just pour the near-boiling wort into a milk jug, cap it to pasteurize, then thaw it and pour directly into the starter vessel when I need it.
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Interesting thought… so you take your wort from the mash tun into a milk jug, trusting that the temps in the tun were sufficient to kill the cooties?
Freezing sounds like another good time saver - I just don’t want to wait for it to thaw out!
No, I boil it for a minute, then go straight from the stove to the milk jug.