No DME for a starter - help!

[Jtbrown54]

I have a planned brew this weekend and I thought I had some DME for a starter, but upon inspection, I'm out!!

I'm using harvested and washed yeast that has been chilling in my fridge for 5-6 weeks.

Can I just use. A sugar water solution to wake up the yeast before I brew?

Any ideas?

 

[jeffjm]

Sugar is probably not a great idea. There's a risk that the yeast will get used to fermenting simple sugars and then won't do so well with the more complex sugars in your wort.

If you can't get any DME can you mash a small amount of grain to make your starter?

 

[kh54s10]

I have heard that will acclimate them to simple sugars which is not a good thing for your beer. There is a malted beverage you might get in a grocery store. I forget the name. A search might find it.

Do you have any extra base grain? You could mash that to a 1.040 wort.

 

[Jtbrown54]

I'm actual doing an extract batch for first time in a while.

I could pour out some of that and boil it for a bit. How much should I use?

 

[Jtbrown54]

Or could I use some apple juice?

 

[Denny]

Or could I use some apple juice?

Nope. Use some of the extract. You want to shoot for a 1.030ish OG of the appropriate size. See mrmalty.com for what size that should be.

 

[Jtbrown54]

Nope. Use some of the extract. You want to shoot for a 1.030ish OG of the appropriate size. See mrmalty.com for what size that should be.

Thanks Denny. Done!