Unfortunately NB was out of Fast Pitch so I had to resort to an old fashion starter. It’s not like I never boiled some extract to make one before but the FP makes it easier for five gallons. Anything larger and it starts getting expensive. My starter vessel is a wine carafe the previous condo owner left with foil over the top.
Just getting settled in to our winter home and I have three kits to do. The Brickwarmer is first. Rushing it a little to be ready for Christmas but with Kveik yeast and no practical way to control ferm temps it should finish quickly and then into a keg with priming sugar it will go. Getting CO2 around here is a major PIA so I try to conserve so priming is better than force. Making sure the tank is off when not in use helps too, just in case.
Have fun! I’ve not used the fast pitch yet but I can see the benefits. My DME turned to hard candy from the humidity during the power outages. I’ll have to buy new soon.
I had a partial bag DME that turned into a rock. I chipped off small pieces to put on a scale to get the correct amount and then pulverized the pieces inside a zip lock bag with a heavy Pyrex measuring cup. Took some extra stirring for the small bits left to dissolve but it worked.
Got it done and it’s bubbling away this morning. The beer not the starter that is.
I agree with @radagast the small investment in Fast Pitch is worth it. When I’m doing 20 gallons I make up more than small batch brewers brew just for a starter and it would blow an entire 4 pack so extract it is.
When I start a new liquid yeast I’ll brew a 2 or three gallon beer then repitch the yeast to a a 10 gallon and still have some to save. I don’t do starters
So do you decant the wort from three gallons? When I’m making my big starters they are sometimes that big. I just swirl it around and divide it up in the fermenters. I do save some back to reuse.
It’s not worth anymore because it’s fermented so it’s beer. I’ll usually make a similar style that I plan to brew then crash and rack off the beer. Generally I’ll bottle condition the beer with domino dots since it’s a smaller amount
Well, go down to basement, get DME and nutrient, 10 mins to boil 1.25 L water, stir in DME, boil 15 min, pour in flask, icebath in sink another 10-15 mins. Eh, I’m not usually in a hurry and am doing something else at the time so maybe an hour was a bit exxagerated but still, pop a tab dump a can and a can of water and go was awfully nice. Sadly, they’ve been out since like May at this point so I doubt it’s coming back.
I rack active fermentations often when adding fruit or something to a secondary no big deal. Good time to add some dry hops or make a mini version of your 20 gallon and compare the bottle condition to the keg conditioned. It’s all good