Sterile Wort Question

Brewing processes and methods. How to brew using extract, partial or all-grain. Tips and tricks.

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stumpwater
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Sterile Wort Question

Post by stumpwater »

Last night I finally got around to making up a batch of wort for canning purposes. The benefits of having pint jars of sterile 1.040 wort on hand are too good to pass up.
I originally intended to use this wort for boosting up my yeast culture starter, so I added yeast nutrient to the jars before processing. Does anyone know if this wort will be good for using as a primer as well? Not having to make a primer on bottling day will be soooo...nice. I am figuring yes, but yeast nutrient is new territory for me as I prepare for my first all-grain batch (this week). The nutrient I used is diammonium phosphate. By the way, for anyone interested, the process for canning wort is the same as if you are canning fruit preserves. Just make up a small batch of wort, resist the urge to ferment it to beer, and can it in some mason jars.
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Mesa Maltworks
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Propagating and Gyling w/ Pre-Sterilized, Canned Worts....

Post by Mesa Maltworks »

"Does anyone know if this wort will be good for using as a primer as well? " & "yeast nutrient is new territory for me"

There are two uses for pre-prepared, properly sterilized wort and they require slightly different preparation:

1: As a propagation media:

- Due to antibacterial properties, add a high
amount of hops when preparing the wort for
this use.

- Yeast nutrient should be used in regular
proportions to the volume of wort. But..
even better is Servomyces which is a product
sold by White Labs and made by Lallemand
(Danstar). It is not only a nutrient, it
also is a metabolic enhancer which will lead
to growth of a better yeast crop.

- If using a pressure cooker (greatly
preferred), make sure it achieves 15 PSI ( ~
1 bar) before beginning to time the duration
of sterilizing. Once 15 PSI is achieved,
process for a minimum of 20 minutes. The
temperature at this pressure will be around
250~60 degrees F.

- If using a water bath canner, process for
at least 1 hour since the temperature is
much lower than using a pressure cooker.

- Produce a LOW GRAVITY STARTER ! You are
not trying to ferment using this
technique... you are trying to create more
yeast cells. In a perfect situation (rarely
ever happens) the sugar content would be
just enough to get the yeast through
respiration and reproduction stages after
which they flocculate (settle). Any
remaining sugars will cause them to begin
fermentation. I use wort that is around
1.018 at 100 IBU.

- Let the yeast settle before either
stepping up again or pitching. If pitching,
pour off the supernate of beer on top of the
yeast before pouring into the fermentor.

2: As a gyle media (primer):

- Don't hop the wort, the bitterness may be
noticeable in the final beer.

- You can use yeast nutrient in this, but it
won't have much effect since the fermentable
sugar concentration will be low and
therefore the yeast will most likely not be
active long enough to take advantage of the
nutrients. Also... if they do use the
nutrient, it will increase biomass and
therefore more cells will be present to
settle out in the beer necessitating longer
conditioning times.

- Prepare a gyle that is as close to the SG
of the beer that it is to be used in.
Significant deviations in gravity will cause
the yeast to lag.

So far, this is the fastest method of preparation I have come up with for starters/gyles:

Using quart size canning jars, add the UNHOPPED extract directly to the jars, DME is the easiest to measure accurately. Add hops and nutrients if it is a propagation media, don't add them if it is to be a gyle media. Top the jars of with hot water, seal and shake. The convection currents in the jar will stir the extract and ingredients into solution for you during the canning process.
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