Advice on containing starters

[verysupple]

Hi All,

I've only made a few yeast starters for my beer and as they were all less than 2L I made them in my 2L Pyrex jug with Gladwrap over the top. They worked OK but I always knew my starters would be more effective if I could give it a jolly good shake every hour or so. So I'm now using a 3L old juice bottle with the lid on loose. This seems to vent CO2 OK (the bottle doesn't feel very tight) but when I shake it, all the CO2 comes out of solution and the whole starter becomes foam and I can't vent the CO2 or a whole bunch of wort leaks out the top.

Should I use an airlock - it would be a 1 min job to drill a hole for a grommet and airlock - or should I just vent more carefully and shake less vigorously?

 

[Bada Bing Brewery]

Hi All,

I've only made a few yeast starters for my beer and as they were all less than 2L I made them in my 2L Pyrex jug with Gladwrap over the top. They worked OK but I always knew my starters would be more effective if I could give it a jolly good shake every hour or so. So I'm now using a 3L old juice bottle with the lid on loose. This seems to vent CO2 OK (the bottle doesn't feel very tight) but when I shake it, all the CO2 comes out of solution and the whole starter becomes foam and I can't vent the CO2 or a whole bunch of wort leaks out the top.

Should I use an airlock - it would be a 1 min job to drill a hole for a grommet and airlock - or should I just vent more carefully and shake less vigorously?

You could use an airlock but I wouldn't bother. I use those bottles as well for starters. Shake and leave for a minute then vent......imho - keep it simple.
Cheers
BBB

 

[hoppy2B]

Isn't shaking a waste of time once the starter has been going for a while because all the air has been force out of the container by co2? You need an airstone to aerate your starter properly.

 

[MaltyHops]

No, no - don't use an airlock (used to do this, mistake), just use loose cap or
loosely covered with alfoil. With starters, you need oxygen to get to the yeast
for them to stay in the growth phase. Airstone/O2 system would be the ultimate
option, then stirplate and shaking as often as possible is the make do option.

As you've found, shaking an activge starter will make it fizz up - just have a big
enoough container and not fill it up too much (or be ready to clean up often).