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Yeast Starter

mhenry41h

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Dec 28, 2010
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  Quick question. I just made my first yeast starter. Mr malty called for a 1700 ml starter which I added around 5.5 grams of light DME. I sanitized all equipment and boiled 15 minutes. I cooled it to pitching temp and smacked my smack pack to get the nutrients in it. I airlocked it and away we go. Did I miss anything?
 
5.5 grams of DME in a 1000ml flask is about 1.002 SOG. Not enough sugar to build up a starter in 1 liter, let alone 1.7L. Many use 100 grams of DME per 1L to get roughly 1.040 SOG.
I've started using a lesser amount, 65 grams per 1L to get about 1.025 SOG. (I try to get my canned wort in the mid 20's as well.) Yeast will tend to work harder to produce alcohol in high wort concentrations and healthy biomass in lesser concentrations (Crabtree effect). Anyway when I look at the collected slurry, it appears to be at least as thick at 1.025 SOG as when I used 1.040. Just as much with less DME works for me.
This works best with well oxygenated wort, so aluminum foil loosely placed over your flask and a stir plate help considerably.
 
Guessing (hoping?) he meant ounces, which seems correct.  I just used 3.0 ounces in slightly more than one liter and got approx. 1.032.  It boiled down quickly so I added a touch more water and had 1.032 when done.
 
Sorry, I did mean oz's.  I have no idea why I typed grams.  It seems a little weak.  What concerns me is that I did however get a weak gravity.  I came up with an OG of 1.024 which doesnt make me happy.  I put the bag of DME on the scale on it said I had 3.5 ozs when the bag said 6 ozs.  My electronic scales say they dont need to be calibrated so I plopped a 1 oz baf of hops on it and it read...magically...1 oz.  I think I got shafted on the weight of my DME.  The good news is that my airlock was bubbling when I got up this morning.
 
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