Re: [CH] Little reminders we get every now and then....
jim (jim@mail.wildpepper.com)
Fri, 4 Jul 2008 20:41:13 -0500
Re: You're missing one crucial detail, though: what you want to survive
is, while you're doing the cleaning/sanitizing, still sitting on the
shelf (the previous starter) in another container. You're about to
***transfer the yeast***, and a nice, rich, tiny batch of beer (about 400 mL
per starter in 500 mL flasks, and double that for 1000 mL flasks) to
another container. Before you ***transfer over the yeast***, you want that
container to be free (or as close as possible) of bacterial
contaminants.
I'll grant that my forte isn't brewing but I think it's more like I'm not
explaining this very well ;-) Emphasis added above to help illustrate my
point a bit better I hope :-)
The batch YOU are putting into the bottle is already designed to grow, in a
solution designed to ALLOW and ENCOURAGE growth- so yes, the bottle needs to
be hyper sterile. What I put into a bottle is NOT designed to grow, and is
already very, VERY hostile to anything it might encounter in the bottle so
the sterility needs aren't quite the same. I have a much greater range of
tolerance since I'm putting in a sterilizing solution (acid, natural anti-
bacterial chiles, and scalding heat). You're putting in yeast and sugar :-)
Never thought of it before, but does anyone know the pH of beer?
-Jim C
http://www.StepUpForCharity.org
Mild to Wild(R)