I was wondering what any of you use to make a yeast starter besides a flask. I’ve heard of people using a growler with an airlock. Just curious. None of my local shops sell flasks and really don’t feel like ordering one online.
Thanks.
[quote=“dmybama”]I was wondering what any of you use to make a yeast starter besides a flask. I’ve heard of people using a growler with an airlock. Just curious. None of my local shops sell flasks and really don’t feel like ordering one online.
Thanks.[/quote]
You can use just about anything assuming it’s big enough. You don’t necessarily need glass. Small bucket, 2L soda bottle, even a milk jug will work in a pinch. I’m sure others will chim in about the horrors of using plastic for your starter, but just like everything in brewing it’s fine as long as you sanitize well.
Most brewers don’t use airlocks on their starters, sanitized foil is just fine.
I found a glass gallon jar at the thrift shop for 99 cents.
I used to use a 3L jug that I got from carlo rossi (or any other really cheap wine)
I also wanted to chime in that instead of making a starter, a lot of the times I simply use two packets of dry yeasts. Not much more expensive than making a starter and less hassle. Also, I have found no drop off in quality from wet yeast to dry yeast FWIW. I mostly use wet when the beer style demands it.
I use gal. glass apple juice jugs.
Old apple juice jug.
If you LHBS’s don’t carry them, see if they will order some. I think they can get them 4 to a box.
old glass gallon jar (could have been pickles or apple sause)
Flasks are my first choice, but I’ve also successfully used 1quart and/or 1 gallon pickle or kimchee jars.
You go through gallons of kimchee? :shock:
Do you boil in your flask? Every time I boil in my flask, I have a mess. The thing looks like a volcano erupting. I tinker with the flame to try to control the eruption, but no luck. Any suggestions?
[quote=“Bier brauer”]
Do you boil in your flask? Every time I boil in my flask, I have a mess. The thing looks like a volcano erupting. I tinker with the flame to try to control the eruption, but no luck. Any suggestions?[/quote]
Fermcap S and watching it like a hawk as it comes to a boil.
Mixing in the DME before boiling helps too.
I’ve used growlers and flasks. I’ve heard good things from a will cleaned 2L pop bottle with intermittent shaking. You can squeeze the bottle every once in a while to expel the CO2 and replace it with air.
The only reason I use a 2L flask for starters is because it has a flat bottom. Boiling in it, while it theoretcially makes sense, without fermcap its a disaster that coats my stove in liquid gum. Most other containers have a concave bottom, which makes using a stir plate virtually impossible, as the stir pill will fly off to the side of the vessel unless you have a tesla magnet.
If you are just naturally fermenting a starter, with some intermittent shaking, as the above posters stated, you can pretty much use anything, but preferably something food grade, or at least non-permeable like glass.
Buy a $2.99 jug of Catawba pink jug wine, add some fruit and sugar to it, watch the ladies go batty. Then you’ll have some great stories and a starter vessel 
Flasks are great for small starters, gallon jugs for medium sized starters, or a 2.5 gallon plastic bucket for largest starters (or do a small beer and harvest the yeast).
I use 22-oz bombers for small ale starters, and sanitized milk jugs for everything else. Haven’t had any problems. I shake or swirl the starter every hour or two, when I think of it, taking care to bleed the gas off the top so it doesn’t blow up.
