Yesterday I finally did my first AG batch since last fall and decided to save some of the second runnings for a starter wort. Ran off three gallons into gallon ZipLoc bags and stuck them in the freezer. The gravity was a little low at 1.022 so I’m figuring either boil it down or add some DME. It sounds like a lot but it was from a 20 gallon batch.
Does that sound like a good plan? I can always thaw them out and dump it only losing three ZipLocs.
Should work. I would add DME to bring the SG up rather than taking the time to concentrate the wort by boiling. I’ve found that Ziplock bags can get cracked in the freezer so be careful when thawing the wort.
I put them in a plastic container just in case. They all seem to have survived though. I’ll probably just thaw them out in whatever pot I’m using to boil so if they leak, no problem.
Unrelated but I moved my 12 gallon conical so it is right in front of a window a/c. The ferm strip is reading 58° on the front. Outstanding! The other 10 gallons are in buckets that are in swamp coolers. No ferm strips on them yet so I’m winging it on their temp.
Thats creative thinking on the conical and AC unit! I haven’t tried what you are doing with the wort, but it does sound very plausible… I was thinking on the same lines too, but with ice cube trays, the when frozen, put them in a sealed container… I use a low gravity wort when I intend to build up my yeast for culturing/splitting into more for future use… Sneezles61
I use 1 quart yogurt containers. Perfect for 1 liter starter. I would probably just toss in a Suger cube to raise the gravity
Gave me another idea. Save some finished beer before carbonation. Freeze it in the ice cube trays and on a hot day drop beersickles in your pint. They won’t water down the beer but keep it cold. Ooops the alcohol won’t freeze. Back to the drawing board with that.
I got the idea with the wort because after I collect my desired amount in the kettle I run off the rest into a bucket and dump it down the drain to lighten up the spent grain then scrape the rest out into heavy duty trash bags. The garbage company here will take the grain. At first they thought it was yard waste and left it but after a call to them explaining it was food byproduct they have collected it since. Seemed like a waste just dumping it out.
One possible problem would be saving wort from a Stout or other dark beer might not work for a starter for a light beer like a Pilsner.
