Yeast Starter.....

[snail59]

I'm making my first yeast starter ready for the weekend. Boiled up 150g of spray malt in 1.5lts of water put that in a sanitized DJ now the spray malt is falling out of suspension in the DJ............ Is this normal....................

 

[Good Ed]

What yeast are you using? is it fermenting? is the airlock bubbling? what is the temperature?

 

[luckyeddie]

Are you sure it's DME and not yeast that is precipitating?

 

[snail59]

What yeast are you using? is it fermenting? is the airlock bubbling? what is the temperature?

ED it is Wyeast 1098 propagator. It is not fermenting as such. There is a positive internal pressure in the DJ though. Temp is around 18C it is sat on the kitchen worktop over the boiler.

Are you sure it's DME and not yeast that is precipitating?

Eddie im sure it was Spray malt precipitating as I had not added the Yeast at that point

I boiled up 150g Spray malt in 1.5lts water last night put it in a DJ and left to cool. I smacked the propagator pack last night and popped it in the airing cupboard over night at 05.00 this morning there was no sign of the pack swelling. Added it to the malt this morning anyway and when I got in from work no sign of any activity in the DJ............

 

[Aleman]

Break matter in the spray malt

 

[snail59]

Thanks Tony..........Makes sense............ :thumb:

Ive put the DJ in the airing cupboard up the temp a little see if it kicks off then..................... Could be brewing with SO4 if this don't work. Not that there is anything wrong with SO4

 

[craigite]

It'll work :thumb:
Might take a little longer than you expect, might lead you to think it's failed, but generally it will work.

I cool mine by foating the pan I boiled the malt in in a basin of cold water. Means I can pitch about 15mins after the end of the boil.

 

[snail59]

It'll work :thumb:
Might take a little longer than you expect, might lead you to think it's failed, but generally it will work.

I cool mine by foating the pan I boiled the malt in in a basin of cold water. Means I can pitch about 15mins after the end of the boil.

Thanks for the reassurance Craig :thumb:

 

[luckyeddie]

It'll work :thumb:
Might take a little longer than you expect, might lead you to think it's failed, but generally it will work.

I cool mine by foating the pan I boiled the malt in in a basin of cold water. Means I can pitch about 15mins after the end of the boil.

Me too - cover the pan with clingfilm as soon as it comes off the hob, then crash cool in a bowl of cold water. After 5 minutes, change the water. You can be at pitching temperature in less than 10 minutes.

 

[snail59]

WOOHOOOOOOOOO ITS ALIVE

Thanks for all the replies chaps :clap: It was bubbling and foaming away when I went to work this morning and you can see the gunk mounting up in the bottom of the DJ so looks like were onto a winner :thumb:

 

[Moley]

I have to report a failure:

I've never tried it before but liked the idea of capturing and breeding free brewing yeast, so I've been experimenting according to this “How To”.

Everything was cleaned and disinfected, I boiled up 200g of medium spraymalt in 2 litres because that's what JP said, added the bottoms of a bottle of SNPA and left it to see what happened.

Not a lot happened, and continued to not happen for coming upto a fortnight. There seemed to be positive pressure inside the DJ and I did see the occasional pop through the airlock, but with 2 litres of fluid inside a gallon DJ I didn't think anything untoward of it. I didn't think that 2 litres of fluid inside a gallon DJ seemed like a particularly good idea and had already resolved to do things differently next time.

Although not a lot appeared to be happening, there did seem to be a growing amount of sediment, and there were some clumpy bits floating around the edges. S-04 makes clumpy bits but I've never used US-05 and don't know how that behaves, so again I didn't think anything untoward.

Then I read this topic of Snail's and got suspicious, so I racked off my ‘spent’ wort to grow on the sediment. I dunked a hydrometer in a sample, it didn't sink. I spun it to dislodge any bubbles but it obstinately refused to sink any further.

I stuck my nose in the neck of the DJ and sniffed - a vague whiff of something petro-chemical. I had a taster from the trial jar and slooshed it around my mouth for a while - malty sweetness, with maybe just a hint of vinegar.

I spat it out and poured everything else down the sink.

 

[evanvine]

That's a shame Ade.
Never tried it with bottled beer, always used draught beer!

 

[crisparmour]

Never tried it with bottled beer, always used draught beer!

Do you mean you go home from the pub with a sample of real ale and cultivate the yeast from that?

 

[luckyeddie]

Bad luck, Moley.

Putting the washings straight into 2 litres of wort was possibly a case of 'too much too soon', and the yeast cell concentration would be far too low to become established before wild yeasts took hold (to do everything in a perfectly sterile environment for us mere mortals is nigh-on impossible).

What I tend to do is carefully decant the beer (and drink, of course) but leave the last bit in the bottle and add just 100 mls of 1040 wort to the bottle (I heat-sterilise around the neck by flaming it before I add the wort). Then put a foil cap on (again, sterilised - this time using boiling water), shake vigorously to aerate then stick it in the airing cupboard.

After seeing signs of activity I then just double up the wort and repeat, decanting into a 1 litre flask. I only move it into a demijohn once I've doubled up a second time (usually after a week) - by this time, the cultured yeasties are becoming well-established and the chance of airborne contamination is lessened.

 

[craigite]

I have to report a failure:....
I spat it out and poured everything else down the sink.

Using yeast from a bought bottle of beer is my first choice method.
It took at least a dozen attempts; some just seemed not to work and some just did not seem to give a suitable flavour.

Keep trying, eventually I found one to my taste.

Today I have just reawakened the beast by making a starter from one of my old bottles. My last yeast stores were in the fridge longer than I liked, but the yeast in an old mid alc mid hopped brew worked great. I'll harvest this brew's yeast at about 48hrs into fermentation, store in fridge and keep it going for a year or so. Remembering to keep a bottle or two of a good brew to keep the strain going in case :thumb:

 

[evanvine]

Do you mean you go home from the pub with a sample of real ale and cultivate the yeast from that?

Indeed I do!

 

[crisparmour]

I'm going to have to carry a little sample jar around with me for that elusive Bateman's...

 

[evanvine]

I'm going to have to carry a little sample jar around with me for that elusive Bateman's...

I keep a 1ltr PET, marked at 1pt, in the boot of the car.

 

[crisparmour]

Seems a dear and inefficient way to get your yeast, though. How many viable yeast in a pint of draught ale, compared to a bottle of ale which you can actually drink and retain the residue...

 

[evanvine]

Seems a dear and inefficient way to get your yeast

But it's not about cost and efficiency, it's about home brewing and doing your own thing.
It's a hobby, not a commercial venture!