I am about to do my first yeast starter after 2 years into my home brewing career and I have a question. I pressure cooked a solution of DME and water. 100g of extract to 1000ml of water. I made sure it was blended well but now there is this white gunk on the bottom after it cooled and settled. Kind of looks like trub in a carboy after fermentation. My question is should I just decant the liquid into another container before I add the yeast? I am estimating I'll lose about 100-150ml when I transfer if I have to do that. Can anyone tell what that stuff is? Thanks!!!
I'm not sure what the white stuff is, but I often get sediment when making a starter, although I don't think it was white (more brownish, I believe). I don't worry about it, but you can always decant it if you feel uneasy about it. I assume that your pressure cooker was clean and didn't contain lime? By the way, unless you're using yeast directly from a sachet, it's always good to also add some yeast nutrient to the starter, and boil it along with the DME.
I have made starters this way, pressure canning, and it does result in a fair amount of trub settling out. These starters also smell sort strong, presumably because none of the volatiles get a chance to dissipate as a consequence of being cooked in a can. However, after some time on a stir plate, it seems like other starters, from before, when I didn't pressure can. As for the trub, you can decant off of it, or pitch it into your beer. I doubt you'll notice.
Yes I am using a stir plate. I didn't think it would hurt since it will be with the trub after fermentation anyway. I was just curious as to what it was and if it would hurt my yeast while the yeast is propagating during the stir plate. Hopefully the yeast is heavier and will fall below that so I can decant it off anyway. I just don't trust boiling as much as I do pressure cooking. Thanks for the input
There are a LOT of things in homebrewing that don't make a 'huge' difference, but they could all add up and result in a less than optimal beer. Some people wouldn't be able to tell the difference regardless, but there are likely others who could. Just know your options, try them out, and come to your own conclusions.
I don’t make starters often but when I do. 2000ml Erlenmeyer, 6ozs (or so)of DME, a pinch of yeast nutrient and bottled water. About a 10 min boil results in 1800ml of wort. Stir plate for about a day or two, depends on if high krausen has fallen. Take off stir plate. Let yeast settle into cake(sometimes) Decant off liquid (sometimes) Pitch yeast day of brewing. Either way a fast and great way to get a beer rolling. Usual activity within 10-12 hours. This is what I do. Stay sanitary your good to go bro! Oh ya and 98% of the beers I brew are IPAs. This starter is for about a 1060-1070ish OG for about 6 gals. Hope any of that helps.
Decanting, as the term is usually used, involves separating the yeast from the other constituents...so as not to add potentially oxidized material to your wort/beer.
Unless I am mistaken, I think hojo was asking whether to decant the beer from the white residue before he then adds the yeast.
I put it all in the starter. It's been spinning on the plate for 12 hours. I had about 100ml of yeast slurry. We shall see what becomes of this...thanks to all again
48 hours later I tripled my yeast level if not more. I have about a 1/2 inch cake at the bottom of a 1/2 gallon Mason jar. I put it in the fridge last night and more should fall out of solution in the next day or 2. Brew day is Sunday evening. Before anyone reminds me I will be letting it come to room temp before decanting and pitching. Thanks again for everyone's input. And I will be purchasing some yeast nutrient as well for the future
