DME into an erlenmeyer flask

I boil my starter in a pan then transfer the cooled liquid into my sanitized erlenmeyer flask using a plastic funnel. This avoids all the problems you're having.

 

I mix my DME and part of the water in a measuring cup with a whisk until smooth, then pour through a funnel into the flask. Fill up the measuring cup with more water and whisk again to get the left overs off the sides, and add to flask. Then I add more water to the flask until I reach my volume, drop in the stir bar, add a few drops of foam control, set on a heating plate and let her rip. Nutrients and foil for last few minutes, cool, stir plate, crash, pitch. It does add an extra step for clean up to have to wash the measuring cup, but easier than trying to mix it inside the flask, and don't have to worry about if I sanitized the flask and funnel before adding it from a sauce pan.

 

sometimes i use a folded piece of cardboard or paper. other times i use a rubber funnel and a hard plastic chop stick to get it all in. i never heat the water until all of the DME is in the flask. otherwise it can become a gooey mess. i guess i never really had too much trouble.

 

part of the reason a pyrex flask is used is so that you can sanitize the flask as you boil the wort. using all one vessel eliminates alot of potential problems. otherwise you are handling sterile wort and possibly exposing it to contaminants. if it works for you, that is all that matters but it is not the typical method.
Cheers.

 

This is true. However, I like my method because I'm a bit paranoid about boiling wort in a flask on an electric stove. Also, I have very good sterilization procedures and *luckily* I've never had a problem.

 

Not sure of your issue.

I do lift the funnel up and bit so it not covering the top of the flask. Also the water isn't too hot. You don't want hot vapors trying to come up through the funnel and fight with the DME. If you also choose not to have your water hot enough to dissolve the DME straight away just make sure that your swirl the flask often as it warms.

 

I weigh out my DME in SOLO cups. I find them easy to pinch a bit as I pour it in the narrow neck. A bit of DME sticks to the inside of the neck but that is easy to wash away as I fill it with water. I used to use funnels, but they always seem to clog up and make a big mess. Sometimes the weather maybe humid and some DME will stick to the SOLO cup, easy fix rinse it with water and dump it in the flask.

 

When I poured the DME in the flask, I put it on a paper plate, folded it, and was able to get 99% of the DME in there.

Now I boil it in a separate pot, less boil overs and hours spent cleaning the stove.

 

I gave up on erlenmeyers all together - I don't think it's merely a coincidence that they're shaped like a volcano. I prepare my starters in a pan and then transfer them to a growler/gallon jug.

 

I always used a growler for my starters too until I got a stir plate. The bottom of a growler is concave and not flat like an erlenmeyer flask. It's much easier to get the stir bar spinning on a flat surface.

 

I have some mixing bowls with a spout, like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Trudeau-Melam...r_1_1?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1338325009&sr=1-1

I put the mixing bowl on my scale to measure the DME, then once the flask starts boiling I pour the water into the DME in the mixing bowl. Whisk it real quick to combine, then use the spout on the mixing bowl to pour it right back into the flask. Works great.

 

I realize this is an old thread, but my process has changed since I first responded. I have a 3 piece funnel set from the Dollar Tree that I use. I took some heavy duty scissors and cut almost all of the neck off the biggest funnel so that the hole is now about the size of a nickel instead of a standard pen shaft. Works much better now. Just pour the DME into the flask while on the scale, add the nutrient, then add some hot water to the flask. I give it some swirls to get the DME to start to dissolve. As the liquid heats the chunks of DME will dissolve on there own. Slide in the stir bar, place foil over the top, set on my flat top stove and boil. One big help I found is don't try to do this with a freshly washed flask, unless you rinse it well with cold water. If the flask is hot from a washing, it will have steam inside the flask that will try to rise out of the neck which is blocked by the funnel, forcing the steam to the opening in the funnel neck. As soon as the DME comes in contact with the steam it clumps and clogs the neck. Even with a cold flask it will do this sometimes, so if you can let it drip upside down a little that's even better.

 

I just use this SS funnel:

http://www.amazon.com/Kuchenprofi-S...UTF8&qid=1409773482&sr=8-3&keywords=ss+funnel

The funnel "neck" is almost as wide as the flask opening. Easy peasy.

 

I have always been paranoid I the flask would break on the stove or create a volcano so I boil in a wide mouth pan, sanitize my flask and pour the hot wort into the flask without cooling. Then I drop in the stir bar, cover it with sanitized foil and stick it in the sink with a bunch of ice water. Sometimes I let it finish out in the freezer if the ice water melts too fast. It seems nice to only use one container but I just don't want to handle the flask much when its hot and I hate making a mess on the stove. I can usually pour the hot wort in and get it to the ice bath before the neck gets got.

 

I would be more concerned about the glass cracking or shattering when going from cold/room temp to boiling temps with in seconds as opposed to metered increase from room temp to boil. I use an oven mit to hold the neck of the flask and then a pot holder underneath for support. I monitor for a boil to hit, and then shift the flask off the heat except maybe 20% over the heating element, then turn it to low-medium. It maintains a boil while keeping it from spewing over. After the boil is over I use the oven-mit and pot holder to put the flask on a wire cookie cooling rack in the bottom of my sink, and then start filling the sink with cold water so that it is a slower metered shift in temp as opposed to boil to ice. Let the sink fill to the same level in the starter so the whole volume of liquid inside and out is the same (not high enough and the liquid above is not cooling, too high and the flask will float and tip over). I've only cracked one flask, I had it on the stove empty then moved it to bare cold ceramic.

 

Hmm interesting, I may have to try that... When I started doing starters there was a lot of chatter about spewing and cracking flasks when bumping the stove. Maybe its time to re-evaluate...

 

Yeah. The cracking will occur with drastic temp shifts more than gradual. So going from super cold to super hot, or from super hot to super cold. This is one reason I place the flask onto a wire rack instead of the sink surface since it is less surface area (and it also lifts the bottom up so that cold water can get under the flask as well as along the sides). I also wont turn the burner on until the flask is on it, and try to slide it instead of picking up and setting back down on the stove.

 

I've always taken mine straight from the gas stove to an ice bath. I usually make my starters during my lunch hour so I don't have time to mess around. In 15 years I've never had a flask break unless I just dropped it.
As for getting the DME into the flask I measure it out in a plastic container and then just spoon it into the flask. The neck of my 4L flask is plenty big for a soup spoon of DME without making a mess.