As we have learned, a big healthy pitch of viable yeast is key to excellent beer. That’s why I made a mighty pilsner yeast starter.
Using mrmalty, the style called for a starter that would equate to 3.64 vials of yeast. I rounded up to 4 vials of yeast and I knew I could get there by making a 4 liter starter for 2 vials of yeast, which I purchased for the German Pilsner I want to brew.
Because I don’t have a suitable container to ferment one 4 liter yeast starter, I made two 2 liter starters for 2 vials of yeast – one vial for each.
Each wort was boiled on the stovetop in its own pan since I thought it would be easier to do the measurements before the boil rather than after it was done. Here is a photo of one of the pans.
After each wort was cooled to room temperature, I poured them into the large glass bottles that I do own.
The contents of each vial was mixed in with the simple wort that I made with malt extract and a little yeast nutrient. I shook each bottle to aerate as much as I could at the beginning and throughout the day.
The caps on the bottles were sanitized and placed on the tops of the bottles loosely so that gas could escape.
After all these years, I am still uneasy about the yeast starter process. I feel like I follow all the instructions to make them but I still worry if the starter produces enough yeast to have a really clean and vigorous fermentation.
I have had good fermentations from what I have done before. I still think I could have better ones and that it would be solved with having a better yeast starter. The thing is, I really can’t tell the difference between a great starter and a good one.
Larry Tate
Rather than caps, sanitize a square of aluminium foil in Starsan, then wrap it over the top of the bottle. It still allows for good air exchange but limits the possibility of infection. Works for me!
Herb Meowing
Homebrewers can save a boatload of money when making starters by saving and freezing one last running and / or the pre-boil / pre-pitch samples from the last batch.
-HM
John
Hi Larry,
I have used foil before, but I like to shake my starters to keep them working. When I shook with foil on top of the bottle, I always had messes. I found that I can use caps without tightening them the same way as I used aluminum foil without the mess. I wouldn’t tighten the caps – that’s a bottle bomb waiting to happen.
Thanks for the tip, Herb.