How Big A Vessel For Yeast Starter?

[scrumpy]

morning all!!!

can somebody tell me how big a vessel i'd need to make a 1L starter, would a 1.25 soft drink bottle be large enough???
or is 2l the way to go??

 

[dj1984]

morning all!!!

can somebody tell me how big a vessel i'd need to make a 1L starter, would a 1.25 soft drink bottle be large enough???
or is 2l the way to go??

I use a 2L flask for my 1L starters, 1.25 is not big enough so go for the 2L

Hope this helps

Cheers
DJ

 

[Dazza_devil]

I started out piss fartin around with 1 and 1.5 litre vessels then went the hog and got a 5 litre glass demijohn. The way to go I reckon, good for up to 3 litre starters with ease. Easy to swirl too. I just cap it with sanitised foil, no probs.

 

[brando]

I started out piss fartin around with 1 and 1.5 litre vessels then went the hog and got a 5 litre glass demijohn. The way to go I reckon, good for up to 3 litre starters with ease. Easy to swirl too. I just cap it with sanitised foil, no probs.

The difference with a glass demijohn is that you have to clean it after.

I come by empty 2L coke bottles regularly enough, and just chuck them out after pitching yeast into fermenter.

 

[donburke]

I started out piss fartin around with 1 and 1.5 litre vessels then went the hog and got a 5 litre glass demijohn. The way to go I reckon, good for up to 3 litre starters with ease. Easy to swirl too. I just cap it with sanitised foil, no probs.

+1

i also use a rubber bung with hole + airlock for the 'bubbling factor'

and also a solid rubber bung when shaking

 

[Dazza_devil]

The difference with a glass demijohn is that you have to clean it after.

I come by empty 2L coke bottles regularly enough, and just chuck them out after pitching yeast into fermenter.

They are easier to clean that a pet bottle with grooves in them and you gonna have to scrub it up before you use either anyway.
I don't come across any real dramas cleaning mine. Always pays to give things a quick rinse after use to prevent things baking on. I usualy rinse then stick a microfibre cloth through the hole and swirl around with some type of brewews detergent or bend a bottle brush to get in the hard to reach spots. A good soakin in napisan for a couple of days will always do the trick.

 

[brenjak]

2 litre erlenmeyer flask with a bored rubber bung and airlock. Makes a 2lit starter with ease and can be placed on the stove top. Cleaning is easy as it is glass like the guys with demijohns there are no grooves to worry about.

 

[Pennywise]

Depending on what yeast your starting really, I wouldn't use a 1.25 litre bottle for say Wyeast 3068 if making a 1L starter, most of it would end up outside the bottle

 

[Dazza_devil]

I guess an erlenmeyer would have been the hog but if you want to do starters for lagers in the future you will need something big enough for a 3 litre starter.

 

[Cortez The Killer]

I usually collect 2 litres of wort out of the kettle and cube the rest when I need to make a starter

I use a 3 litre erlenmeyer flask

I then dump the lot into the fermenter with the cubed wort

I've seen this method referred to as a RWS (Real Wort Starter) on US forums

Cheers

 

[brando]

They are easier to clean that a pet bottle with grooves in them and you gonna have to scrub it up before you use either anyway.
I don't come across any real dramas cleaning mine. Always pays to give things a quick rinse after use to prevent things baking on. I usualy rinse then stick a microfibre cloth through the hole and swirl around with some type of brewews detergent or bend a bottle brush to get in the hard to reach spots. A good soakin in napisan for a couple of days will always do the trick.

I couldn't see a need to scrub the inside of a 2L coke bottle if it's only ever had coke in it (coke zero in my case). I just add a bit of nappisan solution and shake.

 

[Dazza_devil]

I couldn't see a need to scrub the inside of a 2L coke bottle if it's only ever had coke in it (coke zero in my case). I just add a bit of nappisan solution and shake.

I guess you should be OK if it's just been drunk and rinsed, then it wouldn't be any harder than a demijohn to clean. Mind you I would personally prefer to drink my starter beer than coke, anyway each to their own. I kinda like my demijohn and having a speciality starter vessel, in fact, I luv it. :wub:

 

[brettprevans]

ive used glass 700ml spirit bottles, 1.25L and 2L PET bottles and now use 2L & 5L glass flasks.

if i wasnt using a stirplate i might still be using PET. theres nothing wrong with it and if you go thru a bit of softdrink you always have a good supply (ie bugger the cleaning).

I mainly use the 2L flask for propoagating yeast to split into smaller amounts.