Homebrew - 1 Liter (plus) yeast starter recipe for stir plate

There are probably a lot of these out here, but this is usually what I do to make a starter with my home-made stirplate. Its fairly fast and easy.

**If you're using a white labs smack pack, make sure to follow the directions and smack it several hours ahead of time before  you dump it into your starter. Kind of like a primary stage.





1) Create the "wort" for your starter.

Amount of DME to Use
The starting gravity of the starter wort should be between 1.030-1.040. There is a very simple metric ratio you can use that will get you there: 1 gram DME for every 10 ml wort (after boiling). So using the 10 to 1 ratio, a 1 liter starter requires 100 grams of DME.

Dried Malt Extract Weight to Volume Conversions
You might not have a scale, which makes weighing the DME pretty tough. While measuring DME in weight is always better than measuring in volume, if all you have is standard measuring cups then you can use the conversions I’ve measured out for you. Keep in mind these were taken with the cup filled to the brim and after tapping the side to fit more DME. It’s not perfect, but will get you close enough.

1/4 cup = 33 grams

1/2 cup = 66 grams

3/4 cup = 99 grams

1 cup = 132 grams

So for example: If you are making a 1 liter starter and using the recommended ratio of 1 g DME to 10 ml, then you would need 100 grams. Working with cups, you would add 3/4 cups.


2) After 10 minutes have passed, create an ice bath in your kitchen sink by filling with water and dumping in approx 3 trays of ice cubes)

3) Move the pot to the icebath and swish it around gently in the bath checking occasionally with a sanitized thermometer until the temp is approx 75 F. May take 15 minutes or so.

Then empty the starter vessel (I use a 1L open mouth glass vessel with a flat bottom that came with a coffee press like this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005LM0S/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1344057292&s=kitchen&sr=1-4) set your other items somewhere where they won't be contaminated, and dump the wort into the glass vessel.

4) Give it a 30 seconds of 02 if desired

5) Drop in stir bar, cover with sanitized aluminum foil, and set on stir plate for at least 24 hours, 26-28 can be better depending on the starting amount of yeast you use.

Make this the afternoon before you intend to brew and you'll be golden!