Well folks, the yeast starter that I made five days ago is officially a failure.  The yeast struggled valiantly and put forth some CO2, but not nearly enough for me to trust them to ferment wort.

Now, I know you’re asking yourself, “Is it because they’re too old?”  No.  It’s not because they’re too old, it’s because I’m a bad parent.  Turns out that for yeast to really do their thing, then need a lot more than just sugar.  Many of the nutrients found in wort allow yeast to multiply instead of just dieing a slow, bubbly death.  Most starters, including my previous ones, are made with DME, which has the nutrients that yeast need.  I think this quote sums it up best:

Making a starter with just corn sugar is like raising your kids on only twinkies and thinking they’ll turn out fine.

So, next time I’m at the homebrew shop, I’ll pick up some yeast to use in my Beer With What’s Here brew.

As part of my “Beer With What’s Here” brew, I have some really old yeast that I wanted to use.  To help achieve proper fermentation, I decided to make a yeast starter.

In the most basic terms, ie. the only terms I understand, yeast eat sugars and simple nutrients and crap out alcohol and carbon dioxide.  When making beer the yeast eats malted grain juice.  In order to get the yeast ready to chow down, they need some preparation.  They need to be at a decent temperature, have oxygen and be eating the type of stuff you want them to eat later.  If you meet these criteria they will be fruitful and multiply, creating lots of bubbles and booze.  If you fail to meet these criteria, you get sugary yeast water.

My starter is simply a sterilized one gallon jug, half full of sterilized water and a Mr. Beer booster pack (corn sugar).  It is covered in aluminum foil to keep out the light and keep in the warmth.  It’s sitting over the pilot light on my stove since I keep the temps in my house pretty chilly.  The airlock allows CO2 to escape and keeps nasty stuff from coming in.

It’s bubbling slowly, but I want it to really get going before I make up the wort and dump it in.  I’m hoping over the next few days, it’ll reach high krausen at which point I know the yeast is ready to go.

UPDATE: Check out this post before you try this for yourself.

So, here’s the plan.  I have a bunch of random old Mr. Beer stuff.

• Unhopped Malt Pale Export, best before July 2011
• High Country Canadian Draft, best before July 2009
• Whispering Woods Weizenbier, best before July 2009
• Octoberfest Vienna Lager, best before 2011

Each one is designed to make 2 gallons of brew.  I also have two “booster” packs which are basically corn sugar designed to be mixed with the wort.  I have three packets of “Brewer’s Yeast” that were shoved under the caps and 1/4 oz. of Cascade hops.

The plan is to make a starter with a gallon of boiled water and a booster pack.  Then I’m going to add the yeast, slap on an airlock and see if the yeast is at all viable.  If I get a starter going I’ll make a batch with the other ingredients, adjusting the water to get the gravity I want.  Mr. Beer camelpiss here we come.