Making A Yeast Starter

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How To Make An 1000ml Yeast Starter

 These are the instructions included with our 1000ml Yeast Starter kit. But as long as you have an Erlenmeyer Flask, DME (Dried Malt Extract) and Yeast Nutrient they will help guide you through making a yeast starter for 5-10 gallons of wort.

Recipe Ingredients: ¾ Cup DME • A pinch of Fermaid K • 900 ml of water

Directions For A Starter:

1. Take yeast out of refrigerator and allow to warm to room temperature.
    
2. In an Erlenmeyer borosilicate glass flask, mix DME, water and Fermaid K (yeast nutrient). Let this solution boil for 15 minutes on low heat. Watch for boil over.
    
3. Cover flask opening with aluminum foil and place in an ice bath or your freezer to cool. After initial cooling allow flask to adjust to room temperature.
    
4. Open yeast and pour into flask. Cover flask with aluminum foil.
    
5. Place the flask somewhere warm & swirl as often as possible or use a magnetic stir plate for maximum cell growth.
    
6. Wait 12–48 hours and pitch.

Yeast Notes:

 When conducting any yeast transfer or yeast culturing activities always spray your work surface with a diluted alcohol, Star San or water based solution to trap airborne bacteria. Work away from any drafts that would blow bacteria into your media. Bacteria attach to dust particles and then fall vertically, absent of any draft. Ideally, all yeast transferring activities would occur away from drafts and close to a flame source because a flame causes hot air, and therefore, bacteria to rise.

 We recommend you cover the starter with aluminum foil as it fully covers the opening, allows oxygen uptake, and will only be in place for a short period of time. If you do use an airlock and stopper in preparing yeast starters you must flame the lip of the glass to kill the bacterial ring that develops between the stopper and the lip of the glass. Swirl your yeast starter as much as possible to stimulate cell growth and oxygen uptake. To get maximum growth from a starter, use a stir plate to increase cell growth. Using a stir plate and a 1000 ml starter is a great method of producing yeast for 5 to 10 gallon batch sizes.

Frequently Asked Question:

Question: Should I decant the liquid off the yeast bed and pitch or swirl the whole starter and add it all?

Answer 1: Unless you are making a really delicate beer or pitching a large volume (say 1000 ml in 5 gallons) we say swirl the whole starter and add it all. There are billions of yeast in suspension so why not take them? The “everyone in the pool” theory.

Answer 2: If you are making a delicate beer where you don’t want to alter the flavor in anyway or are pitching huge starters you can refrigerate the starter, decant most of the liquid and just pitch the yeast bed on the bottom.

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