Starter beers

[DaveSeattle]

I've been thinking that instead of making 2L starters on my stir plate that will be thrown out, I'd make 1 gal beers that will be drank. I haven't been able to find a good way to list beers that are in style with a gravity of 1.040. Anyone have such a list or know an easy way to make one, or have a favorite beer that they make in this way?

 

[Bbrewer07]

Basic brewing video did a show on this. Id try there it seemed like it worked pretty well.

 

[Yooper]

I don't do it- but you could make a wide variety of beers, from light lagers to milds to session pale ales, etc.

My favorite would probably be a mild. Generally, the OG is 1.037 or so, and because it uses an English strain that flocculates so well, you'd have crystal clear beer, and a nice compact yeast cake, in about 5-7 days. I love milds, and think that they are totally underrated.

 

[Bbrewer07]

http://www.basicbrewing.com/index.php?page=basic-brewing-video-2013
It is the one titled Belgian starter.

 

[IslandLizard]

When making starters you want to oxygenate (stir plate) for the yeast to grow as fast as possible and be in top condition. That ruins the flavor of the (starter) beer.

When you ferment a gallon and you want it to taste good, you want to ferment at lowish temps, without oxygen. That will take a few days to a week. You probably end up with a decent amount of yeast to pitch. It is more work, you want to boil the wort with some hops, wait to chill, pitch, and rack later to get to the yeast.

I brew all grain and sometimes I make a larger batch and use the extra wort (2nd runnings) for starters for the next batch or 2 but you got to plan ahead.

 

[Hoosierbrewer]

Mild. Mild brown or bitter. I am making a mild brown using some leftover runnings from my oatmeal stout. I used an English bitter to build a yeast cake. Split cake and am now using it on stout and the mild brown.

 

[kanzimonson]

You can make much more than 1 gallon. A fresh pack of yeast has just under 100 billion cells. If we're using the common pitching rate of .75million cells per milliliter per degree Plato, then you can reverse the math and say that 100 billion cells has the ability to ferment about 140 gravity units.

So that could be 3.5 gallons at 1.040 (3.5gal x 40GU = 140) or it could be 5.5 gallons at 1.025 (5.5gal x 25GU = 140), or it could be 2.5 gallons at 1.056 (2.5gal x 56GU = 140).

Of course, the things to pay attention to are:
1) you're using the freshest possible yeast - we're talking just a few days old at worst
2) You'd want to stick with the common wisdom of keeping it a lower IBU, lower alcohol beer.

I'd also recommend some yeast nutrient additions if you're not doing that already.

I've thought about doing this myself, but I ultimately decided that I don't want to spend my time making anything less than 5 gallons of finished product, but if you've got the patience and the time then go for it!

 

[DaveSeattle]

Thanks for the ideas! Funny, I listen to Basic Brewing Radio but on my bike so I never watch the videos. I'll check out that episode.

I understand the tradeoff between a highly oxygenated starter on my stir plate and a much larger, slower starter beer. The reason I'm going with this scale is that I have equipment such that it's very easy for me to make a 1-2 gallon batch of beer (AG, even), the boil is the easiest part of the brew day, and I figured this way there would be less waste and more different beers, even if it's modestly more effort. And brewing more often will help me improve faster and let me try some experiments.

Great point that I don't need to stick to 1.040 since I'll be overpitching for 1-2 gallons at that size. That's really helpful on lager, weizen and Belgian yeasts, where there are no styles using those yeasts that get down to 1.040, but there are a number in the mid-40s, so I should be fine there.

Thanks all!

 

[kanzimonson]

Well I guess the point I'm trying to make is that instead of overpitching a small batch, you can maximize your effort by scaling the size of the batch so that it is a proper pitch size. Maybe subtract a little to account for the unknowns in viability.

 

[DaveSeattle]

I'm in a special situation, I have two systems and it's easier for me to make 1-2 gallons on my "kitchen" system than 5+ gallons on my "garage" system because I can still be with my family while brewing. Plus, my goal in brewing these small batch brews is to get good yeast to pitch in the main 6 gallon brew, not to produce the most possible beer. Plus 3 gal is an awkward amount to keg .

 

[kanzimonson]

I see. I guess you can make the smaller batches and know that you'll have some pretty healthy yeast afterwards.

 

[DaveSeattle]

Yeah, it seems like I can brew pretty much anything that's not super hoppy, strong, or dark and it'll work just fine. Great!

 

[kanzimonson]

Put the least emphasis on color. Sure, you probably don't want to pitch right on top of a yeast that just fermented a super black stout, but a brown ale wouldn't be the end of the world.

I'm guessing you've probably thought about this, but after fermenting your small batch, you'll have more yeast than you need for a 5.5gal batch, so you'll have to either do some washing and storing or just throw some away before pitching the next batch. If you can work some washing in (well, "rinsing" technically) then you can be more confident about mixing colors.

 

[SmCranf]

Just experiment with whatever styles/og's you want, better to mess up a 1 gal batch than a 5+.

I love this idea though!