Yeast starter with corn sugar, or no yeast starter?

[linuxelf]

I'm brewing a hefe weizen tomorrow, and don't have any extra DME for making a starter. I do, however, have several cups of corn sugar. Would I be better off making a starter with the corn sugar, or just pitching the vial?

[jamilz]

Better off just pitching the vial.

[linuxelf]

That's what I was afraid of (heh) Thanks Jamil.

I think I'll run to my LHBS for some DME tomorrow morning, and just postpone the brewday until Sunday.

[jpskin]

why is that? Is it that you want particular sugars from the DME?

[Kaiser]

why is that? Is it that you want particular sugars from the DME?

The yeast might get lazy if it has only simple sugars to metabololize and actually loose the enzymes for maltose/maltotriose breakdown. This would lead to a stalled fermentation as soon as the glucose in the wort is used up.

Always culture yeast in a medium that is closest to the wort you will be brewing. In general this means using malt extract or wort left over from the previous brew day. I do the latter to save DME.

Kai

[jamilz]

I think I'll run to my LHBS for some DME tomorrow morning, and just postpone the brewday until Sunday.

You can always just use the starter to get the yeast nice and active. One of my favorite methods is to pitch the tube or smack pack into 1 liter of wort in the morning and by the end of the brew day, perhaps 8 or so hours later, I pitch the whole, active starter into the wort. It works really well.

[linuxelf]

You can always just use the starter to get the yeast nice and active. One of my favorite methods is to pitch the tube or smack pack into 1 liter of wort in the morning and by the end of the brew day, perhaps 8 or so hours later, I pitch the whole, active starter into the wort. It works really well.

I wish I'd read this earlier, I may have been able to do that... I mean, I'm only doing a 1liter starter. So, if I understand what I've read on your site, I'm really not going to be getting much, if any, cell count growth anyway, right? I'm doing an extract batch here, which will probably mean a brew day of about 3 hrs, so tomorrow I'll start the starter at 7am, start brewing at noon, and be done by 3, at which time I'll pitch the whole starter.

[George]

Next time this comes up and you're making an extract batch, use a little of the batch's extract, then pitch the whole thing. Nothing lost there...