NateBrews wrote:Put on a scale set to grams
Add 150g of DME
Add a couple grams of nutrient
Fill the flask to the 1.5L mark with water
Shake to mix
Put on stove and boil for 10 minutes with foil cap
Put in a cold water bath and let it cool (65F to 75F, I'm not super particular)
Toss in the sanitized stir bar and pitch in the yeast
A couple of points to streamline your procedure:
1. I find that it's better to dribble the DME into the stirred water, and avoid clumps that take forever to break up.
2. For a 2L starter I add 200g to 1500 ml of water, and then qs to 2L rather than guess at the final volume.
3. If you throw the stir bar in the flask before you boil it the stir bar will be sanitized with the rest of the solution (rather than having to sanitize it separately).
4. I never, ever, put a flask of boiling wort into an ice bath! Yes, it will work. Sometimes. And other times your flask will shatter wasting equipment, supplies and time. I cool my flasks on the counter top until they are comfortable to the touch before I put them in the water bath. It only takes 45 minutes or so, and when I'm in brew mode that's no time at all.
At the medical center there is a thing called "Central Services", and they do sterilization of equipment and other stuff either by autoclave or ethylene oxide (for plastic stuff that can't stand the heat). The durable stuff, like surgical equipment, comes back in pouches similar to the mylar barrier bags you get with bulk hops. So I ran some of the equipment I use in yeast propagation through the autoclave in one of those mylar bags, and guess what: It works! They wrinkle up a bit, but don't go to pieces. I'm gonna do that until something better comes along.
Charlie
"Yes officer, I know that I smell like beer. I'm not drinking it, I'm wearing it!"