How-To: Make a Yeast Starter

A starter can help improve your beer by increasing pitch rate, reducing fermentation lag time, and reducing stress on the yeast. All of these things can reduce or eliminate off flavors and increased ester production that stressed yeast can bring to the table.

I’m planning on brewing this Sunday, I happen to have time, so let’s make a starter shall we?

Required Items:

• 100g Light DME
• 1.5L Water (less if your boil-off rate is lower)
• Starter Vessel (I use an Erlenmeyer Flask but you can use what you’ve got) 
• Stopper or aluminum foil to cover your vessel
• Measuring cup(s) – for water and DME if you do not have a scale
• Sanitizer (in the mini keg)
• Funnel
• Liquid yeast vial or packet, depending on your supplier of choice
• Medium/Large Saucepan with lid
• Beer (I’m drinking my Lime Wheat)

Helpful Items:

• Scale for weighing DME
• Defoamer/Fermcap (boilovers suck)
• Stir plate
• Stir bar
• Timer
• Towels

Getting Started:

• Sanitize your things!

• Measure your water

• Weigh/Measure your DME

• Add your DME to the water, mix well, and start heating. Add your Defoamer at this point as well if you’re using it. Defoamer will not completely prevent a boilover (especially during hot break), but it will reduce the chances of one and make it more controllable. 

• Boil 15 minutes

• Time’s up and the beer’s gone! Cut the heat and lid your pot.

• Move to ice water bath and chill until cool. Normal pitching temps (60-70) isn’t necessary since we’re not really worried about flavor, only growth; anything mid-90’s and lower is fine and won’t kill the yeast. I just use my hand rather than a thermometer to judge when it’s low enough.

• Pour into flask using funnel. If you trust your flask is actual borosilicate glass (Pyrex) you can add the wort hot and chill in the flask. Additionally, if you have a gas stove you can boil directly in the flask. I can’t read Chinese, so I chill in the pan to avoid shattering my flask.

• Don’t forget your stir bar!

• Pitch the yeast and fire up the stir plate. If you don’t have a stir plate, just occasionally give the flask a good swirl whenever you can. Increased aeration provided by a stir plate or swirling often boosts cell growth and keeps your yeast healthy and happy.

By Sunday the yeast will have consumed most of the fermentable sugar and be ready to step up to the show and pitch in the big leagues.

The Fruit Beer Experiment

I happen to enjoy a well made fruit beer, especially on a hot day. Last spring I decided to give it a shot. After buying (and tasting) a not inconsiderable amount of singles from a bottle shop for research; the base beer had been determined. Somewhat surprisingly to me, Goose Island 312 Urban Wheat was my favorite. On its own, 312 is a refreshing, slightly citrusy, light, American wheat. The kicker was really that this beer has no traditional German wheat beer yeast character, or really even much yeast character at all, aside from maybe some mild fruit esters. Researching clone recipes online shows a very simple beer, which again would be perfect for adding fruit to and not having anything clash. Since 312 has a bit of citrus flavor from the Cascade hops, I thought lime would be a fitting addition. I also had seen members of homebrewtalk.com having success with strawberry wheats and blondes. With a head full of hammock filled hopes and dreams, I got brewing.

2013 Ingredients:

• 6 lbs 9.6 oz American 2-Row
• 1 lb 10.4 oz Torrified Wheat
• 4 oz Rice Hulls
• 1 oz Cascade 6.5% AA {30 min}
• .5 oz Cascade 6.5% AA {flameout}
• Lime Zest (5 limes) {flameout}
• 4 lbs Fresh Strawberries (pureed and sanitized)
• 2 x White Labs WLP013 London Ale

2013 Targets:

• OG: 1.043
• FG: 1.012
• IBU: 21.8
• ABV: 4.1

2013 Procedure/Notes:

Mash at 152ºf for 60 minutes, sparge/lauter, and boil for 1 hour adding hops and zest at times noted. Let flameout additions steep for 15 minutes prior to cooling. I split last years batch into two 3 gallon fermenters. 2.5 gallons was just the 312 clone with lime, 2.5 gallons was put on top of the strawberries.

To prepare the strawberries, hull and slice 4 lbs of fresh strawberries to 1 cup of water and bring to 160-180ºf for at least 15 minutes. Blend until pureed.

I definitely learned a few things last year:

1. Do not add strawberries during primary fermentation without adequate head space in your fermenter. Unless you would like to know what the Ghostbusters 2 sets looked like in person and would like to know what cleaning up pink goo is like.
2. Adequate head space is more than you think it is.
3. I’m glad I put my fermenters in a bathtub.
4. Adding fruit to primary has another downside: the yeast will strip most of the flavor and color out of the beer. I would add the fruit after primary fermentation is mostly complete in the future.

Lime alone works great. The strawberry-lime did not work as well. As mentioned above, it was messy and the end product had little in the way of desirable strawberry color or flavor. Also of note: I used an 80% 2-row/ 20% wheat ratio. Goose Island likely uses less wheat, as this had a more noticeable wheat flavor, even with the lime.

2103 Results:

Note: Targets and Results are Lime only. Strawberries add a considerable amount of fermentable sugar, but can vary in content.

• OG: 1.046
• FG: 1.010
• ABV: 4.7

Recently I brewed this again:

2014 Ingredients:

• 6 lbs 9.6 oz American 2-Row
• 1 lb 10.4 oz Torrified Wheat
• 6.6 oz Rice Hulls
• 3/4 Tbsp Ph 5.2 Stabilizer
• .96 oz Cascade 7.1% AA {30 min}
• .5 oz Cascade 7.1% AA {flameout}
• Lime Zest (5 limes) {flameout}
• 1 Whirlfloc Tablet
• 2 x White Labs WLP013 London Ale

2014 Targets:

• OG: 1.043
• FG: 1.012
• IBU: 22.9
• ABV: 4.1

2014 Procedure/Notes:

Brew day 6/15/14 really went off without a hitch, and I plan to post an update next weekend with tasting notes. I went with a similar game plan as last year, aside from 2 changes: no strawberry and in 1 fermenter. 60 minute mash @ 152ºf, 60 minute boil, 15 minute steep after flameout. This was my first mash using 5.2 Stabilizer, so the verdict is still out as to it’s usefulness at this time. Had I planned ahead, a starter would have been a good idea, instead I pitched two vials of yeast to ensure a quick primary. I plan to keg 6/24/14 and serve this 6/28/14 at a crab feast.  Yep, 13 day grain to glass. Ballsy.

Rye Pale Mild (RPM)

I decided my first all-grain should also be my first completely original recipe. Something non-orthodox at that. I’m sure part of  me was thinking “this isn’t a real style, if you screw it up, you can say it was on purpose.” That part of me is a crafty bastard. So came along this mixing of a style I had just started noticing and enjoying thoroughly (Rye Pale Ale), and a style I have never actually had but fell in love with the concept of reading Shut up about Barclay Perkins (English Mild). What came out of the fermenter was a delicious learning experience.

Ingredients:

• 4.5 lb Maris Otter
• 1 lb Rye Malt
• .5 lb Carapils
• .5 lb Crystal 40ºL
• .25 lb Chocolate Malt 350ºL
• .25 lb Rice Hulls
• 1 oz East Kent Goldings 5.8% AA {60 mins}
• .5 oz Fuggles 4.20% AA {15 mins}
• 1 Whirlfloc Tablet {15 Mins}
• .5 oz East Kent Goldings 5.8% AA {flameout}
• .5 oz Fuggles 4.20% AA {flameout}
• White Labs WLP001 California Ale

Targets:

• OG: 1.035
• FG: 1.007
• ABV: 3.5%
• IBU: 27.3

Realities:

• OG: 1.036
• FG: 1.008
• ABV: 3.7%

Procedures:

Mash at 152º f for 60 minutes, sparge with 5 gallons at 168º f.

Boil for 60 minutes following addition times noted with ingredients.

Ferment at 68º f for two weeks and bottle/keg as you will; aiming for a low-level of carb (2 vols or less)

Notes and Thoughts:

I would have liked a bit more rye character than was present. If brewing now I would go with the relatively recently available CaraRye and Chocolate Rye malts from Weyermann in place of their barley caramel/chocolate counterparts. I would also consider using a less clean yeast, White Labs WLP051 California V/Wyeast 1272 American II to bring some fruit esters to the party.

Double up or quit, double stake or split, THE ACE OF SPADES CDA

Like most things Motorhead; it’s bitter, black, and slightly abrasive. 

Targets:

• OG: 1.052
• FG: 1.013
• ABV: 5.1
• IBU: 57.1

Ingredients:

• 8lb Pale LME
• 1lb Carafa II
• 1lb Crystal 40°L
• 1/2lb Crystal 60°L
• 1oz Centennial 10.0% AA {60 min}
• 1oz Cascade 5.5% AA {45 min}
• 1oz Willamette 5.5% AA {15 min}
• 1oz Cascade 5.5% AA {Flameout}
• 1oz Cascade 5.5% AA {Dry Hop}
• Wyeast 1056 American Ale

This was the last extract batch I brewed. This will also be converted to all-grain and brewed again this fall/winter.

 

 

Recipe: Pumpkin Ale v2.0

Ingredients:

Mash:

• 12 lb American 2-Row
• 1 lb Crystal 60°L
• 1 lb Special Roast
• 5 lb Roasted Pumpkin (cubed)

Boil:

• 1 oz Hallertauer 4.1% AA {FWH}
• 10 lb Roasted Pumpkin (mashed smooth) {60 minutes}
• 1 Whirlfloc Tablet {15 minutes}
• 1 oz Hallertauer 4.1% AA {15 minutes}
• 1 lb D-180 Candi Sugar Syrup {10 minutes}
• 1.5 Pumpkin Spice {5 minutes}

Yeast: White Labs WLP072 French Ale

Targets:

• OG: 1.085
• FG: 1.018
• IBU: 17.5
• ABV: 8.9%

Reality:

• OG: 1.062
• FG: 1.011
• ABV: 6.7%

This brew day was wrought with failure, but turned out a beer delicious none the less. Just with a far lower efficiency than planned.

 

If you’ve ever thought to yourself: “I can let go of the drill to refill the grain hopper on the mill; it’ll be okay.” You’re wrong. It won’t be okay. You’ll be sweeping up all of your milled and unmilled grain off the floor. Gravity is faster than you.

Don’t heat your strike water too hot and expect stirring to magically lower it 20°, it won’t. Physics won’t let you.

Goal:

Thinner body, drier, more complex, darker, higher ABV brew than last year.

Result:

A beer with similar gravity and body to last year’s, but definitely darker and more complex. The yeast really brings out the spices as well as provides some of it’s own. The candi sugar brings color as well as dark fruit flavors and complexity.

I believe the high mash temp combined with a loss of at least a pound of grain to garage floor grossness resulted in my lower than planned gravity.

On to All-Grain

I had decided to move on to all-grain brewing. I had read books on the process, I had watched countless videos on YouTube, I probably should have found another brewer to help brew on their system before attempting this. Sometimes (read: most of the time) I can be a little impulsive. So I bought a false bottom, some coolers, valves, bulkheads, and tubing. Note to self: stainless things are expensive, but they sure are pretty. And, as with the pumpkin ale, I couldn’t just use an established recipe. So I set about researching malts and styles.

The first stab was a combination of a Rye Pale Ale and an English Mild. The goal was for the rye to contribute it’s signature bite and spiciness with a healthy dose of English hops on bed of malty goodness. It came out quite well, especially for the first all-grain brew.

The next brew was my first disaster learning experience with fruit beers. My goal was to take Goose Island 312 and create a delicious summery fruit beer with strawberry and lime. I learned two main lessons: strawberries should go in secondary, and 2.5g in a 3g Better Bottle is not enough headroom; especially when 2 lb. of pureed strawberries are involved. Not only was I left with little to no strawberry flavor or aroma, but I also had to clean up a mess that would have given the Ghostbusters 2 janitors nightmares. The half of the batch without strawberry was a huge success, so much so that it made the other failure worse. I gave away the last bottle of strawberry so as to not have to drink it myself. Sorry Camille.

I followed that up with another learning experience. I decided to attempt two all-grain brews in one day. One of the hottest days of the year, in fact. I’m an idiot. This day was miserable. The only saving grace was the IPA this day produced.

Brew one: a birthday beer for my best friend, Alex. He’d decided on an American Hefeweizen with lemon peel and grains of paradise. He and his family loved it, it took 3rd in Wheat beers at the Great Frederick Fair, it should have been a great success to me. However, I hate grains of paradise. I also gave away the last bottle I had of this so as not to have to drink it. Sorry, again, Camille. 

Brew two: an American IPA. This beer is awesome. I’ve given very little of it away… because it’s mine… my precious…

The next two brews: a Best Bitter using homegrown hops and Pumpkin Ale 2.0 are at the moment bottle conditioning and fermenting, respectively.

From the beginning. A short history of my extract brewing.

My first batch was a little more than a year ago.

An Ithaca Nut Brown Ale clone brewed on premises at The Flying Barrel. That batch had some issues, I don’t know if terminal gravity hadn’t been reached or if it picked up a bug somewhere along the line, but anything that was kept out of the fridge more than two weeks became severely over carbonated. They were still tasty. I was still proud. 

After the first beer, I needed to brew more beer. I commandeered an unused turkey fryer, bought an equipment kit, and decided a pumpkin ale was next. Dogfish Head Punkin Ale was the inspiration. I decided that roasting my own pumpkin was the way to go. I then made a mistake, I packaged it in 1L bottles and distributed to family and friends as Christmas gifts. I should have kept it, enjoyed it for myself. It was truly delicious.

The last extract brew was a Black IPA. I had sampled Widmer Brothers’ Pitch Black IPA at a restaurant and immediately knew I wanted to brew some of that that slightly roasty, hop bomb-y goodness. I was happy with the outcome. The result ended up being more of an over-hopped stout, but pulled a 37 average in competition and is on the list to resurrect in all grain form.

This concludes the extract portion of our presentation today. Stay tuned for adventures in all-grain brewing.