Storing Starter Wort

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Joshisgood

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Hey guys, I've got a bunch of 1000ml polypropylene bottles on order from wiltronics and I plan to use them to store starter wort. The plan is to boil up a 15 litre batch of starter wort and pour straight into bottles, cap,let cool then store somewhere reasonably cool, same as no chilling cubes really, just smaller scale. Can anyone see any reasons this won't work? The only thing I can think of is that the smaller size of the bottles will let the wort to cool more quickly and not allow pasteurisation to fully take place. Any ideas on storage length would be good too.
Cheers
 
I use a lot of vinigar when making chilli sauce and pickles, and use the Cornwells brand for the tough as hell 2 liter bottles. Weaker bottles like cordial or milk bottles split in the freezer.

When i finish sparging the mash, i let it drain slowly while i boil the brew, and usually collect between 2 and 4 liters of 1.020 wort, which was the liquid helf up in the mash. I pour this, unboiled, into the 2 liter bottles and drop them in the chest freezer.

They last almost forever in the deep freeze, and i pull one out before i go to work and let it defrost on the kitchen sink for the day. When i get home i boil it up, cool it and pitch as per the article i posted a while ago.

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...showarticle=192

If you choose to freeze, make sure you leave an air head space of about 50mls and push the air out when tightening the lid. The liquid expands when frozen and this helps stop leaks.

hope this helps :)

Cheers
 
Ive tried making up several 750ml PET bottles of starter wort and storing them before...followed good sanitation routines wih new coopers PET bottles but invariably they would start to ferment somehow after about a week :( ...I guess it must have been the pasteurisation issue you suggested, as I've generally been able to keep cubes for weeks at a time (I once had one begin to ferment, but it hasnt happened twice).

My approach now it to use a 2L erlenmeyer flask and make up 1.5 L of wort at a time. I use this to step up from ~200ml in a 500 ml erlenmeyer, then add it to the remaining 1.3L after a day, giving me 1.5L ready to pitch within 2-3 days....Since I bought the flasks (from Wiltronics - google them if you need one they're the cheapest around), I no longer even bother thinking about making and storing bulk starter wort...just make up the desired amount in 20minutes..too easy!
 
Hey guys, I've got a bunch of 1000ml polypropylene bottles on order from wiltronics and I plan to use them to store starter wort. The plan is to boil up a 15 litre batch of starter wort and pour straight into bottles, cap,let cool then store somewhere reasonably cool, same as no chilling cubes really, just smaller scale. Can anyone see any reasons this won't work?
It will need to be sterile, not just sanitized but actually sterile if you plan to keep it for any period of time.
That might prove difficult to do.
 
I use vacuum distillation to reduce my wort down to a suitable SG, then I spray-dry it in a zero humidity, heated environment and store the crystalized product.

I like to call this LDME for short.

:D
 
It will need to be sterile, not just sanitized but actually sterile if you plan to keep it for any period of time.
That might prove difficult to do.

So what's the shelf life of a cube then?
 
I use vacuum distillation to reduce my wort down to a suitable SG, then I spray-dry it in a zero humidity, heated environment and store the crystalized product.

I like to call this LDME for short.

:D

did you know you can buy it ready made ? thats what i do, cant be stuffed doing it from scratch
 
then I spray-dry it

:icon_offtopic:

Ooooo Shudders with bad memories.

I used to work in a starch plant that produced maltodextrin (the stuff they call corn sugar or something, to add body to kit brews). Its just partly converted wheat starch, which is spray dried. I remember working on or near the spray drier on a warm muggy day had you and your tools feeling like a licked candy apple. your spanners and screwdrivers would stick to your hands and you would have to stand on them to prey them off.

back on topic........ freezing stops the bugs fermenting, and boiling when you defrost ensures its steralised ready to rock as you pitch the yeast.

i used to use LDME and it works fine. 100g in a liter of water, simmered for 10 to 15 min and cooled.

cheers
 
i make up 5 litres at a time from ldme and a pich of nutrient, put it in jars and pressure cook for half hour. stores forever in the cupboard and saves the stuffing around with cooling a hot flask of wort and i can pitch yeast into a starter with less than five minutes notice.should knock botulism on the head to :lol: would the bottles you talk about stand up to pressure cooking?
 
I have run out of LDME so im mashing old grains for starter wort atm. Thinking of getting the mrs to pick up any old tin off goo from the supermarket and using that. Could use it bit by bit and glad wrap the tine after use. Got to be easier than mashing and using LDME.(the whole kitchen gets sticky when I use LDME)
 
So what's the shelf life of a cube then?
I dunno, but after about a year, malt-agar-slants that have been (pressure cooker) autoclaved and stored in a sealed plastic container often develop contaminations.
So I'd assume that stored (at room temp) starter wort would have a smaller shelf life.
Thinking of getting the mrs to pick up any old tin off goo from the supermarket and using that. Could use it bit by bit and glad wrap the tine after use. Got to be easier than mashing and using LDME.(the whole kitchen gets sticky when I use LDME)
Yep, that's what I do now, just have her keep an eye out for the chuck-out-specials on cans of goop, use it, cling wrap the top and shove it in the fridge until next time.
 
I just make 23 litre batches and fill a 500ml and 2L Erlenmeyer flasks to the brim, cover with foil and use to step up a yeast slant if I need to. Otherwise I chuck them. 20L cubes being my regular batch size, though I could throw them in the fermenter doesn't seem worth the risk.

You could use your PP flasks in a similar way, just catch excess/remaining wort and use them for stepping up starters if needed, otherwise don't keep them.
My flasks are bososcilliate glass so can just drain straight from kettle to get some sanitising happening. Doesn't seem worth wasting space to store LME starters for any length of time, I always have a bit on standby if I really need it - or to make yeast slants.
 
quite a few month ago I have mashed and boiled a 22L batch of starter worth.
All worth has been no chilled in 1.25L soda water bottles from Aldi.

As pre cautions I have bittered to 10 IBU and boiled for 120 minutes, also transferred from kettle at above 90 degrees and stored all bottles close together and covered to extend the time at higher temps.

The bottles haven't bulged a bit, and whenever I want to prepare a starter without using the same wort I prepare the starter for (which I also do on occasion, EDIT: like hsb above) I just grab a few bottles and pour into the Erlenmeyer.

Works well for me.
 
I normally just run my biab kettle trub through a sieve into a flagon

I store the flagon in the fridge (slows down infection) and then decant clear starter wort.

I end up recovering about 50% of the kettle loss this way

Make up a starter to correct volume and gravity. Either adding DME if I need more volume or if I have excess starter wort, I freeze it

A 15 minute boil in the erlenmeyer and then a chill in the laundry sink and the yeast is pitched and Placed on the stir plate
 
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