Canning Wort For Yeast Starters
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- Опубліковано 8 вер 2024
- Building a yeast starter enables yeast cells to propagate prior to adding them to your precious wort, but building them from scratch is a pain. The recent popularity of canned wort greatly simplifies the process, but it can become costly and inconvenient to purchase. Fortunately, you can make your own shelf stable canned wort at home for less than $0.50 per starter in ingredient costs, and you may well have all the equipment you need. Let's show you how.
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My process is different. Whenever brewing I'll do 1 extra gallon and, before my first hop addition I just put it in 2L mason jar calculating the dilution to get to 1.040. This is even cheaper.
Very nice walkthrough. I’ve considered canning wort over the years but never bothered. My process nowadays is to skip starters entirely and use dry yeast instead.
Unfortunately pressure canning is not very common in Europe. But i did the same with a presure cooker. It can make 115°C, not 121°C like the canner, so I increase time to 60 minutes.
Recently I do no chill a lot, so while the worth is cooling down over night, I use 2-3L of the same worth for the starter. Do cool down the starter worth in the sink.. that's even more convenient for me.
What a well timed video! I'm making some when I go to my inlaws this weekend (they have a pressure canner I can use). I was already planning on following the homebrewnotes method but have a video breaking down the steps is always appreciated.
I love the explanation on sterilization involved in the canning process, but it would've been good to mention why a pressure canner is needed over a regular canner people may have hanging around. You need the 15psi to reach ~250F and kill botulism spores. normal canning temp won't do that, and the spores could survive into the starter and into the final beer which would be very dangerous to consume.
I do a similar thing but since DME is kind of expensive here, I just either do a small BIAB mash or make an extra gallon of wort when brewing, repurpose some of that wort before the hops are added and pressure can it.
I did that years ago before the canned wort became popular! It works great and is way cheaper than DME
If the wort with the hops was run through a filter so the wort coming into the canning jars was filtered I don't see any issues with using this as a starter do you? Because I like your idea of just making some extra wort vs dealing with purchasing a ton of DME.
@@jamesp1979 I take the wort after the boil starts but before I add hops. I don't see a problem with using hopped wort if it's a lightly hopped beer but I'm not so sure about wort for an IPA since I wouldn't want the hop flavour to carry over. Putting a couple L of IPA wort into a light lager might change the flavour. Or maybe it wouldn't. I dunno.
White Labs is about $16 now. I have been having great luck pressure canning starters. Quart jars make larger starters with almost no cost! Harvesting and making my own starters is a huge savings.
I've been doing this, based on the same Homebrew Notes article, since I started whole grain brewing about three years ago. I use an electric pressure cooker so make sure I don't have the canned wort hanging round for ages. It works very well for me.
I also have an electric pressure cooker, but I'm unsure of the settings. I don't seem to have full manual control. How do you do it?
I also would like to know.
I give the grain bag (BIAB) a really hard squeeze to extract some extra wort and then transfer the wort to a PET bottle. I would then freeze the wort in a freezer. A day before making a starter, I'll take the bottle out and leave it at room temp. Then I proceed to boiling and cooling it before making a starter. I usually have a couple of frozen wort PET bottles lying around in my freezer at any moment ;)
I do press can starter wort as well... I have a post on my instagram of my process from February. But I usually make the wort from older base malts that I have kicking around, throw in some expired dry yeast in a short post mash boil with a pinch of hops. I do a short boil since I usually make more wort than I can pressure can in one round, so I want to keep the round 2 cans sanitized while waiting. It does make for a longer process, but cost of ingredients is lower, and I'm not dumping ingredients I otherwise wouldn't brew with. The canned wort tends to be lighter than DME too if that is important to you.
Great video again, as always. I go the quick and easy route and use Proper Starter for every liquid yeast propagation.
I got rid of my pressure canner a few years ago when the canned wort came out. I don't feel it's worth the storage space premium, rather just keep a couple cans on hand from the brew shop. The canned stuff worked great for me, as does the canned wort.
This is a great yeast starter hack!
I personally just stick to the traditional boil 1L of water, add 100g of dme, boil for 15min, cool, and pitch yeast method. I don't mind it. 😃
I just put aside left over sparge water, freeze it,heat it to 73 degrees for a minute, cool it to pitching temperature, job done.
Great video! Thanks for providing it!
I have three questions:
1. When you put the Mason jars in the bath, should the lids be kept loose? Othrwise how can any pressure/steam get out?
2. How much air space should there be in the Mason jars? I assume that the wort will up bubble under heat and pressure?
3. Should the jars be be placed on some kind of stand to keep them away from the direct heat source?
Thanks!
For a free yeast starter, when I hot-cube, I take the litre or so of wort left in the kettle, strain it, water it down to 1.040, boil it, and jar it. That way, my starter is pretty much the same as the wort I'll pitch it into, and I don't waste that little bit of leftover wort.
I loved this method because it allows you to make a starter easily well in advance.
What I did in my last brewing was to take 2.5 liters of the wort (pre boil, até 1.040) straight to the Erlenmeyer, cooled and inoculated a sachet of yeast, letting it spinn for about 20 hours, time I leave the wort in the pan decanting before the transfer to the fermenter.
Very cool to be able to store an extract on the shelf. Thanks for sharing
I got the Fast Pitch when it was on sale for $65 for 24 cans. I doubt I'll ever see that price again so I'll likely switch over to your method next time! Thanks for the video. For some reason I had it in my head that I'd have to boil a concentrated dose, then put it in jars and pressurize. Simply adding DME and water is so much easier than I thought!!
I transfer my malt pipe from my braumeister into a bucket and use the unsparged run off from the grains as the base for a starter
Where I live Goya Malta is available in the ethnic foods section of all the supermarkets for about 1.25 a bottle. It's a non-fermented malt drink. It is carbonated and has some sugar added, but I have found it makes a great starter. Mix a bottle of that with a little trub the day before brew day and by the time you need it, it will be nice and active. I just wish the amber bottles weren't twist-off.
Love this idea! I've never looked into canning my own wort. I have the Oktober SL1 canner, but I doubt that would have the same effect as you can't pressure seal it. I have plenty of mason jars and I store plenty of yeast to use for starters. Over the years, I've tried many ways to do starters...propper starter, mini-mashes, skimming wort from brew day, you name it. There are so many ways to make starters. I may have to give this a try.
That's brilliant Martin. Wonder if I could use my instant pot...
In the south, we call that weight, “The Jiggler.” Awesome video
My advice: Use 1 liter mason jars at 1.040. Put mason jars (7) in oven at 250F to pre-heat. Pre-boil 7 liters of water/DME in a large kettle while also heating up the canning water. Boil wort thru hot break in the kettle. This will prevent foam-overs/loss of wort during canning. Ladle boiled wort into pre-heated mason jars. Attach lids, then add jars to canner. Pressure can at 15 psi for about 10 minutes. Use one sterile jar of canned wort for a basic starter without adding non-sanitized water to it.
In episode 62 of the Bru Lab, Dr. Maria Moutsoglou stated that the optimal yeast propagation is 2°P or 1.008 SG with a high nitrogen to carbon ratio. Shouldn't we be building yeast starters to this instead of the 1.040 mentioned in this video?
I listened to that episode too! and following that logic make starters from the tail end of my sparging runoff. I then freeze the mason jar, and thaw it and sanitize before my next brew day.
Great video. I did my first batch of this a few months ago. Didn't do any research, but i've been canning food for years, so it just made sense to me. Saves a ton of time and effort. Note: If you don't have a pressure canner, you can just do a water bath; put your jars in a pot, fill with water to just barely cover the top of cans, then boil. This usually requires longer processing time.
Actually the reason you have to can wort at 15 psi is to prevent botulism. At regular pressure with wort there is no guarantee
@@jbaisch that's right because unfermented wort is technically a low acid food. You could lower the pH to 4.5 if you want to water bath can safely.
I hope you resuspended the DME before putting it in the pressure cooker. Maillard reaction seems to be a problem in your process. I usually make my sugar solution like this for bottling and if I didn't resuspend proberly or heated for too long it gets brown and I actually make it new because some part of the sugar is ruined. One would want to cool quickly after cooking by cooling it with water in the sink to not ruin the vitamins.
Sterilizing "medium" at home is not easy, but as long as it worked for you, it's good enough. ;-)
I do no-chill overnight. but boil and cool a small pot a wort on brewday and make a starter from that so its ready for pitching in the morning.
I once read on a blog that you can add DME (stored in a freezer) to a sanitized flask and add freshly opened bottled water to it. The blog user claimed that the DME is sanitized because it was from the freezer and that the water is sanitized because it’s sanitized before its bottled. I have never tied it.
I've gotten lazy and just stayed with dry yeast. Much easier to store and no starter and canner required. If I time my batches close enough, I can also pitch on the yeast cake of a previous batch.
I just fill up a one liter jar when I brew 15 min in to the boil and put the top on, after cooling it seals perfectly.
I just pour out some boiled wort into a jar, cool. then add in my yeast normally 5-8ml of kveik , leave over night then pitch it into my main wort in the stainless steel fermenter where the rest of the wort has cooled naturally over night. never had an issue. I keep the Kviek in test tubes that i sanitise and get about 8 x 15ml vials out of a kveik liquid pouch. Makes life easier and the yeast go a long way.
Thinking about it, would be good to do a video on: Does hot cubing beer actually make the beer taste different to one that's been rapidly cooled prior to pitching? Perfect science experiment for BRÜLOSOPHY to do!!
I am going to try this
In Europe we generally can without pressure canners, so it definitely can be done on the stovetope in a pot of boiling water. It'll just require more time to sterilize.
Great job. Thanks!
Cool idea
I just pour boiling wort into a canning jar and let it cool.
Boiling water is enough to fully sanitize. Don’t need any canning equipment. Plus as it cools it forms the same seal you get when canning!!
Maybe rethink what you’re doing. In order to kill the bacteria that can actually kill you; the water has to reach 254 degrees. Boiling water only reaches 212 degrees. Do not confuse “Water bath” method with “Pressure Canning”. Hopefully this will help you stay healthy 🙏
@@haywardstewart2825 what bacteria is in DME and water that survives 212 F that can kill you? I store beer for a year plus that hasn’t reached 254 degrees. If the wort jars don’t maintain a seal then they’re compromised.
I don’t understand where the danger lies. I’m not canning bear meat.
You used light DME. Why does the starter look so dark?
I was wondering the exact same question
It's because of something called a Maillard reaction. That's a reaction between reducing sugars and amino acids and is responsible for the umami flavor in grilled meats/onions/... This reaction only happens when high temperatures are held for some time as when pressure canning/frying/grilling/... So by doing that, you will actively change the chemical composition of your wort. I work in a microbiology lab and for us, it is common practice to heat sterilize media components separately and then combine them later under sterile conditions to not run into this reaction.
@@christophkoppl4137 all you had to say was Maillard reaction.
Thanks for the detailed explanation. Helps me remember so I don’t freak our
What a great idea…. Now to get a pressure canner
Pro tip for heating glassware. Don't heat on a direct flame, search for "Wire mesh ceramic Bunsen Burner" and rest the flask on the wire mesh to spread the heat. Or, heat your wort in a cooking pan, which is better at avoiding boil overs, and pour the hot liquid into your flask. The heat will sanitise the glass. In case the flask breaks, add the hot wort with the flaks in the sink or in a cooking pot. That will contain leaks and avoid scolding yourself.
Might have missed it, but are you tightening the lids fully when you put the jars in the pressure cooker?
I do starters the "traditional" method and overbuild then in the process (the brulosophy way!). I like the option of dialing exactly my volume of starter to do so to try to control pitch rate and guesstimate how much yeast I overbuild.
Cheers and thanks for the great content!
I'm looking for that same answer for tightening the lids all the way. Did you ever find out?
Did you mix or shake up the DME and water in the jars before canning?
Nice video, I just tried it and I have a question. I get a lot of hot break material in the jar, when doing the starter m I suppose to put everything from the jar into my erlenmeyer, hot break material included ?
How do you store the finished yeast starter - in the fridge or in the cellar? How long will it last unrefrigerated?
As an European, the one thing I never understand about canning, is how the jar do not blow up. You seem to be sealing it and then heat it to boil. How the pressure can escape if you screw on the lid.
Hi there, when canning your yeast starters, instead of using a pressure cooker, would it do the same thing to use a vacuum sealer after sanitizing everything of course??
To what extent do the Maillard components produce untoward (or at least unexpected) flavors? Is it more critical to decant the starter prior to pitching using this technique? Even though the total starter supernate is small compared to the boil volume, MR components can have potent flavor in small amounts. Perhaps a Brulosophy experiment with a triangle test could explore this.
I've been doing basically this for over a year now, works great. The only difference is I don't use a pressure canner (don't want to own a piece of equipment just to do this) but instead put the jars in a water bath in my oven set to about 90°C for a couple of hours, sure this won't steralize the wort but it should pasturize it well which is good enough for me as I don't keep these for years.
How do you extract the extra yeast that you get from your erlenmayer?
Can I do this by just doing the boil-mason-jars-in-a-pot method? That is: no pressure-rated pot, but still boiling the jars and contents the same way I'd can, say tomatoes or other foods?
i have some liquid dme that i dont know what to do with, I do now 👍
Nice video. I don't have a pressure canner. I do have a water bath canner and an Instant Pot . Could those work in a pinch?
Did you shake your cards to dissolve the dry malt extract or just let it sit with the water when you placed in the canner?
I just saw a comment below that the water bath method doesn't kill botulism spores.
So good there.
How about using an Instant Pot?
Why do you need pressure? If thought putting the glasses in boiling water for 15-30 minutes would kill all microbes. Anyway, very good presentation of the method
Time to get me a pressure cooker. I can convince the misses around the ROI
Does the can wort change the colour of you beer when you use it?
I heard the split lids for mason jars are single use and shouldn't be reused for canning. Anyone who has experience care to comment?
He is referencing the threaded ring when he stated you can use it again. You are correct, the sealing lid is a one time use item.
I hear that ro water is not good for a starter. It creates a higher osmotic pressure ( if I remember correctly) and it can harm the yeast.
When you're making a starter using DME, you're effectively inheriting some kind of standard base water profile from whatever company made the DME since obviously they aren't making DME with RO water.
Ok to use RO water if using min BIAB instead of DME ? I buy 2 row by the sack so way cheaper