Pre-made starters

[pmanz]

I was thinking of whipping up 5 gallons of starter wort and keeping it in a corny so it takes me less time to get a starter started - just squirt what ever I need into a flask, pitch and leave on stir plate.. I'm concerned that the wort just sitting there with no yeast to eat it is going to be too easy of a prey for bad bugs. I'm not sure I can get a corny clean enough to sit for a month or two until I go through all of the starter wort... I'd rather do this than put them in bottles but maybe that is a better idea. I could put it in my lagering fridge to store it at around 34˚. Just wondering what your thoughts and suggestion are about this.

Thanks for your feed back,
Paul

[Happy Smurf]

I'm concerned that the wort just sitting there with no yeast to eat it is going to be too easy of a prey for bad bugs.

And you are right to be concerned. The best method is to create sterile starter wort which requires some jars and a pressure cooker. They're are several threads around on how to make them.

Edit: Here is one article http://www.maltosefalcons.com/tech/startermadeeasy.php

[Bugeater]

Yeah, Smurf has it right. All sorts of nasty stuff can grow in there, even at the low temperatures. It just takes them longer to grow at that temperature. Remember that when you are making wort, you are producing an almost ideal growth medium for microorganisms. It doesn't matter whether the organism is yeast or something nasty. Something will grow in it.

My next brew day will be a five gallon batch of starter that I will pressure can in 1 quart jars. This is the only practical way to store large volumes of unfermented wort for an extended period of time.

Wayne
Bugeater Brewing Company

[BDawg]

+100 on what they said, but I'll add that not only are those things nasty,
they can actually KILL you (and I'm not exaggerating).

I just picked up a pressure cooker and some quart size mason jars about 2 weeks ago, and canned my first batch of starter wort while listening to the live show.

I thought it was a good way to kill 2 birds with 1 stone.

[DannyW]

Dan Listermann fills cornies with boiling hot wort, overpressures with N2 rather than Co2 so it won't carbonate, and dispenses for starters or full batch pitching later.

Seems at least as safe as the water bath canning that was in Zymurgy or BYO a few months ago.

[boobookittyfuk]

personally i wouldn't do any "starter wort fabrication" unless you have an autoclave to use. ESPECIALLY since 99.999% of homebrewers have never been taught what "sterile technique" is. No matter how clean you think your kitchen or yeast propagation area is, you are gonna get nasties in your product.

why waste a full days work making a great beer to ruin it with some "starter wort" that was made months ago?