Who else drinks their starter beer?

[rossbaker]

So last night it occurred to me that the chilled beer sitting on top of my fermented wlp004 starter was too good to tip. It was made using actual hopped, all grain wort from my last batch, rather than dry extract. So I filled up two pet bottles grabbed a carbonation cap, force carbed it and it was good to go. Even though it was wort designed for a Lagar fermented with Irish ale yeast, it was delicious. Probably wouldn't be suited to long term storage but surely better than chucking it - I hate waste. Who else does this?

 

[husky]

Yep have done for 5l lager starters.

 

[Andy_27]

Never carbed one and tried it... but have sampled a couple of flat ones and they were feral. They were made with DME though, actual wort might be better,

 

[GalBrew]

Yes, I have drunk the decanted spent liquid off WY1318, WY1469 and WY1007. All delicious with a light spritz and only unhopped LDME. I was thinking of hopping my stater wort so I can give myself a tasty treat next time!

 

[manticle]

I would if I didn't add my entire starters to the main batch (minimal aeration after fermentation, temps kept normal). I make active, identical wort starters.

 

[Jack of all biers]

Yep, done it a couple of times (with hopped starters). Had a headache from one, but it was rather large (2-3L) and drunk in one hit. Probably a few fusels too many for my head. Never carbed one up and also drank them cause I couldn't stand to waste it.

 

[eldertaco]

I often have a bit of a taste but I usually just use SAME and they often seem pretty stale to me after a day or so on the stirplate anyway.

 

[JDW81]

I always have a small taste test of my starters to ensure it is not contaminated. I reckon i've got as close to "best-practice" sanitation and handling techniques that can be achieved in my kitchen/on a home brew scale, however I wouldn't want to pitch a starter that was contaminated.

I'd rather waste a starter (and make a fresh one with the spare vial of yeast I keep from splitting the smack-pack) than pitch into my wort and waste both.

They never taste great (like flat, unhopped, thin beer), but they don't taste awful. If they did, I'd have a low threshold for tossing it out and starting over.

JD

 

[wynnum1]

Have saved yeast from from a previous brew in the fridge in a plastic drink bottle and drunk the beer to see if it good to use also drunk cold beer from the fermenter on a hot day when bottling and had a couple of bottles left with no beer to put in them .

 

[evoo4u]

I usually try it just to see it doesn't taste off, and sometimes it's quite nice as a bonus.

The other handy test to do with the starter "beer" after it's been whirling around getting oxygenated on a stirplate for 36 hours or so, is to take an FG reading, which is then a good guide to what to expect for the main batch. The starter with all the yeasties is then divided into 500ml Mason jars and refrigerated. Next day to pitch, I drain off most of the clear beer from one of the jars, leaving just enough to shake up and loosen the cake on the bottom of the jar, which I then pitch. Much easier and cleaner than rinsing the residue at the bottom of the FV after fermentation. Is this how most of you re-culture your yeast?

 

[Danscraftbeer]

Only to taste test. Wouldn't go to the trouble of carbing it up to drink though. To waste not I'd use it for snail/slug traps in the garden.

 

[TSMill]

The other handy test to do with the starter "beer" after it's been whirling around getting oxygenated on a stirplate for 36 hours or so, is to take an FG reading, which is then a good guide to what to expect for the main batch.

I would think the two would not correlate....aerobic cell growth and anaerobic fermentation in terms of final gravity.

Always taste my starters but only to check for obvious infections, as above. With un hopped malt extract, it's like dilute orange juice, not beer I want to drink.