Yeast Starters Made Dead Simple

There's a ton of information already out there about making yeast starters and the benefits of doing so. After more than a handful of batches for which I've made starters, many boil-overs, scorched flasks, and stir bars that just won't stir, I'll share the seemingly insignificant tricks I've learned which make the process smooth. There are a few bits of "advanced" equipment which really help: a stir plate and stir bar(s) and an infra-red thermometer. Here's what I do:

1. Clean your 2L Erlenmeyer heat-resistant flask with PBW to get any crud out of there
2. Refer to Jamil's calculator for the proper pitching rate for your brew
3. Take your yeast out of the fridge in order to let it get to room temperature.
4. Put your dry, empty flask and a funnel on your scale and zero it out
5. Measure out 1g of DME for each 10ml of water and dump it in the flask. (100g for 1L, 200g for 2L.)
6. Add an appropriate dose of your preferred yeast nutrient
7. Add your water
8. Drop in a stir bar if you have a stir plate.
9. I like to give the mixture a stir before putting it on the stove to help the DME really dissolve. (Of course if you like scorched, carbonized DME stuck to the bottom of a flask you can skip this step.) If you don't have a stir plate, just shake the crap out of it until everything is dissolved.
10. Add three to four drops of Fermcap or some other foam control additive and cover the mixture in aluminum foil
11. Put the flask right on your stove and set the burner at medium-low heat. I've found that bringing it to a boil slowly prevents the volcanic eruption of foam which has left my stove caked in sticky, carameley goo. (I use an infra red thermometer to watch the temperature. Yes, I am a nerd.)
12. Do not walk away from your starter. It will know that you have and promptly boil over. Typically I turn the heat down to low right as it reaches a rolling boil.

13. Set a timer for 15 minutes and let it boil.
14. Kill the heat once time is up and transport your flask to an ice bath. If the water in the ice bath is lower than the level in your flask, it'll stay upright. If it's too much higher, it'll try to float and probably spill into your cold water. See step 3.
15. Gently slosh your flask around to cool it down faster.
16. Once you get to 75 F, add your yeast. Be sure to sanitize your foil cover before putting it back on. I like a spray bottle of Star San for this.
17. Put your flask on your stir plate and then turn it on. Otherwise you'll just bounce the bar around. (If you don't have a stir plate, just swirl that baby every so often.)
18. 24-30 hours later, you should have a healthy, bubbly starter. Don't forget to watch for that stir bar when you decant it into your beer...

Possibly the Single Best Piece of Brewing "Equipment" I Own

... is actually a piece of software. I personally use BeerAlchemy for the Mac although I know other tools are out there. I've briefly played with BeerTools and HopVille but I ended up ponying up for a license of BeerAlchemy for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it's done in the Mac school of design and is pretty damn intuitive. Secondly, it's easy to use along the learning curve of brewing. It doesn't make you use the more advanced options right away, so you can delve deeper into the program as you progress as a brewer.

There are a few reasons I think good software is one of the keys to actually moving from a beginning or intermediate brewer to an intermediate / advanced one.

1. Consistency: Some of my early extract batches turned out great, some were so-so, and a couple were bottle bombs. If you asked me what went right or wrong, I simply couldn't have told you. With software (or even a paper-based brew log) I can track my ingredients, my process and any miscellaneous notes along the way. So if I like a batch and want to brew it a second or third time, I can pin down which variables changed and ultimately get to the point where it's possible to make the same exact beer twice.
   
2. Process: Taking and recording readings through the brew process alongside of the process you used for a particular batch dramatically helps you understand whether what you're doing is working properly. If you've ever brewed a batch which turned out way too thick or thin for the style you were shooting for or ended up with a beer which was so sweet your friends couldn't choke it down, chances are something is off in your process. Once you start taking gravity readings at various key steps, you can discern where the problem lies.
   
3. Recipe Design: One of the best parts of actually using software is keying in a recipe and watching the resulting gravity numbers, color and IBU's change based on your ingredients. I think that simply going through this process repeatedly can make an enormous difference in one's understanding of the roles ingredients actually play in a beer.

(All that said, it's also possible that it's entirely possible to brew great beer without software and this just gets the nerdy engineer in me going...)

Citra IPA (Zombie Dust Inspired)

I love IPA's. They've been the beer I've stuck with in my journey to a deeper appreciation of all things beer. I've tried as many as I can get my hands on, made a pilgrimage to Delaware to try 60 minute at the source, and brewed many iterations of what never seems to be quite a perfect recipe.

Yesterday my brewing buddy (who I'll simply refer to as JP from here forward) did a ten gallon batch of an IPA with all Citra hops for the flavor and aroma additions. We're lucky enough to get Three Floyds Zombie Dust distributed here in Chicago, and they happen to carry it on tap at Merkle's (one of my favorite bars) whenever they can get their hands on it. It's a new release for Three Floyds, but it is pretty damn close to perfect. It's light copper in color, slightly hazy, and just reeks of that citrusy, resiny hop character that defines an American IPA. It drinks way too easily for something that comes in at 7%.

So, in the pursuit of finding a recipe I can keep coming back to and I based this recipe on Jamil's American IPA in brewing classic styles but substituted Citra for all of the late hop additions.

Citra IPA (10 Gallons)


US 2-Row Malt   25.50lb   (85.0%)
US Caramel 20L  2.00 lb   (6.7%)
Munich                 1.50 lb   (5.0%)
Melanoidin Malt   1.00 lb   (3.3%)


Warrior (17%)  43g @ 60m
Citra (11%) 46g @ 10m
Citra (11%) 62g @ 5m
Citra (11%) 46g @ 0m

We're fermenting at 64F and using White Labs' and Wyeast's California Ales in the two 5 gallon fermenters.






No results yet, but the wort was both sweet and bitter with a pretty hop-forward nose. Hopefully the aroma contribution from the Citra and the slight red tint we should get off of the Melanoidin malt get this beer closer to that IPA I've been lusting after...

After an extended break largely due to many, many things in my life changing, I'm going to try to pick this blog back up. I've progressed substantially as a brewer, moving from extract batches up to a very DIY ten gallon all-grain system. I've read and listened to a ton of material which has contributed to me becoming a better brewer, but more importantly I have brewed with far greater frequency.

I'll get caught up by sharing some of the things I've learned and by detailing out my process in the hopes that it helps others to really dive in to the hobby in the same way I have.