Davik Brewing

This is a typical 1 quart yeast starter.

A #7 rubber bung fits perfectly in this food grade juice container.

This starter method can either be used for ales or lagers, the only difference is the temperature at which you let the yeast work.

When working with yeast, sanitation is a concern, as with all brewing tasks.

You can easily bring your starter wort to a boil using a microwave, dilute the sugars or malt extract and transfer to a sanitized glass container with a lid to cool in the fridge.

The yeast slurry and starter wort should be around the same temperature. For a lager, store both in the fridge before pitching. For an ale, cool the starter wort to room temperature, using the fridge to speed up the process.

When pitching the yeast, be sure to sanitize the mouth of the container before pouring out the yeast. I use rubbing alcohol to sanitize only the mouth of the yeast container, and idopher for all other sanitizing. You can use your favorite no rinse sanitizer, just be sure to sanitize!

A typical brewing funnel fits nicely in the mouth of the juice container, use it to eliminate spilled yeast or starter wort.

If you haven’t started harvesting your own yeast yet, your next batch would be a time good time to start. It’s easy and you can even start to develop your own combinations of your favorite strains.

I exclusively use White Labs yeast and they encourage developing your favorite strain mixtures, but they’ve also developed mixed strains for you.

Find your favorite White Labs Liquid Yeast here

Filed under: Brewing 101 on August 1st, 2009