Beer Forum

I'm making my first starters this weekend and I'm a little puzzled about what to use as a vessel. I don't have erlenmayer flasks. I'm planning on making a 1 litre and a 2-3 litre starter for two beers I plan to make tomorrow. I have a few mason jars, but these are too small I think (20 oz or so). My only idea thus far is to boil up my extract in a small pot, cool it, and then pitch the yeast in the pot, covering the top with aluminum foil. This seems a little unorthodox to me, but I don't have any other ideas. Any ideas?

I just use growlers from brewpubs. Boil and cool the wort in the pot, then pour into the growler and pitch the yeast. I cover the top with foil.

Hmm. I'm afraid I haven't any growlers. Does anybody think fermenting in the pot is a bad idea? It seems like the simplest way.

Growlers are only good for 1L starters. Unless you have foam control then you can do up to 1.5L starter.

If you are in a pinch, use a gallon sized water jug. you should be able to do a 3L starter in a gallon plastic jug even without foam control. Its food grade plastic. just don't use a milk jug .

i'd be concerned cuz of the much greater surface area. As it cools its gonna suck air in there.

People use pails for primary fermentation all the time w/o problems, so I reckon it's possible, but I'd be much more inclined to use a couple of wine magnums. The glass aint pyrex like a good e-flask, but unless you force cool should be fine. Another option might be to use a gallon water jug--like those with distilled H2O. Should be sterile or close to it. Toss the water, fill with cooled and sterile starter, pitch and plug with an airlock.

if your into drinking cheap wine you can buy a gallon jug of carlo rossi for $8 or so. pound it, or dump it in ziplock bag and send it to the ratpad for consumption by , and make your starter in the empty wine jug. seems like a waste of $$ though, i would use a gallon DI plastic jug instead. but erlenmeyers are great if you can get em.

I have a friend who uses a large vase that he bought from wal-mart for under $10. Has a flat bottom too, so it can be used on a stir plate. Might explore that option. I don't know the exact volume of the vase, but something to look into. Best advice: Be creative, who knows what you might have on hand that will do!

From working in the restaurant business for a bunch of years I have acquired a bunch of one gallon wide mouth glass jars. Mostly I use these at home for storing sugar, flour, rice, etc. Until I got a couple Erlenmeyer flasks and a stir plate, I also used these for making starters. They are easy to clean and sanitize.

Wayne