Rinsing grain a third time for starter use?

[Vallka]

I ran across a thread talking about rinsing grains a third time to collect wort to be used in the future for a yeast starter........what do you think of this?

 

[Nosybear]

Doesn't sound like a good idea to me. You need gravity of about 1.038 for best yeast growth. Third runnings would be down in the teens at best and could be over-extracted (astringency). I suppose you could boil it down to 1.038 but then you're concentrating those tannins.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

ive done it many times but I use my second runnings with a 20 pound grain and only get 5 gallons out of it boiled down to 3 to get the correct gravity, it can be done while your boiling but it is another step and you still have to cool it

 

[GFHomebrew]

my third runnings wouldnt be worth it i recon my 2nd wouls.come out at maybe .015 so a lot of work to get a uasable wort gravity. i use dme atm for starters but i like the ideah of pinching some wort from main batch method youd just need to over build your recipie by lets say 2lt pinch that 5 - 10 into boil and refrigerate it.

or there is canning i tried it a while back and mine ended up wirh a stinky lid bulging infection lucky the jar didnt blow!

 

[J A]

I almost have at lest a extra quart that drains out after I sparge, drain and squeeze. Whatever's left under the grain bag when I get done with the boil goes into a jar and into the fridge. After a couple of brew days, I've got plenty to boil up for a starter. As for an extra sparge specifically for that purpose, I suppose I could get a little extra, but I don't leave much sugar in the grain by the time I slow-sparge and the last of my runnings are in the 1.025 range. If it was a big enough mash, it might yield something, but if I ran another sparge of a typical batch, I wouldn't be pulling enough sugar to make it worth the trouble.

 

[Head First]

I ran across a thread talking about rinsing grains a third time to collect wort to be used in the future for a yeast starter........what do you think of this?

I batch sparge and if I do a second sparge I leave some of the first in kettle or the second gets below .020 which is where I don't like to go below. Tannins don't taste good.

 

[Hawkbox]

For a starter I don't think I'd worry much about that. Generally if I want to recover some I put a couple extra liters in the batch sparge and then just put that in a different pot for boiling.

I'm waffling on making a bigger boil and then watering down some extra but that seems like more work.

 

[vthokiedsp]

I ran across a thread talking about rinsing grains a third time to collect wort to be used in the future for a yeast starter........what do you think of this?

for the cost of a bag of DME (pennies per starter), it's probably not worth the effort. in my experience, the best savings on brew day can be found in yeast recovery/reuse and bulk hop and grain purchases. Yeast recovery can save $10-$20 dollars depending on numbers of packets you'd need. Bulk grain for base malts can save ~$0.85 per pound ($8.50 for a 10lb base malt grain bill). For hops, you can save about a $1 per ounce. Focus on those fiscal aspects and your cost per beer will go waaaay down.

 

[Mase]

We brew on Sunday’s and are generally ready to Pitch yeast around 9:00-9:30am (we start our brewday around 5:00am). So to give our yeast 12-15 hours head start on the stir plate, we make our starters around 6:00pm Saturday night. It takes literally 15 minutes to make a DME yeast starter. We let the wort cool and pitch around 7:00pm. Yep... we are pretty religious about our brewing technique. DME is cheap, reliable, no other flavors, and always between 1.036 and 1.040. Two bottles of spring water and a half a cup of DME for 10 minutes boil with a 1/4 tsp. (Have no idea how much this is in squirrel measurements), of yeast nutrient with 5 minutes left in the boil. This works for us as it has become our routine and yeast activity starts within 45 minutes to an hour after pitching into 5 gallons of goodness. Cost wise.... cheap, time wise... doesn’t really matter as it’s all fun to me. Me and my wife enjoy every step along the way. Of course I am the Brew Master, and she’s the Assistant Brew Master. Just don’t tell her I said that.

Ps. Sorry for straying way off topic.

 

[dankbrewing@gmail.com]

I collect about 2 liters extra with each brew, sometimes by adding a bit of extra water after sparging, somtimes by just squeezing a bit more from the bag. Either way, usually get a starter that is about 1.030 and perfect for the next batch of yeast. This is cheap and easy. You can adjust your recipes a bit to allow the extra volume. It is way cheaper than DME, although that works well. I don't reuse yeast, I propagate by overbuilding starters. I use this extra wort, boiled and chilled, to start my next yeast starter for the next batch of beer.

 

[Hawkbox]

That's basically my method.

 

[I_playdrums]

I brew mostly sessions, and take a quart off the pre boil kettle

 

[Hawkbox]

That makes sense.