Propper Starter^® comes from the dedicated folks at Omega Yeast.  It’s yet another tool in an arsenal dedicated to their love of making craft brews and for making the brewing process easier.  Many homebrewers skip making a starter because it’s inconvenient, intimidating, and adds steps to an already intricate and time-consuming process. Now it’s easy!  Propper Starter is canned and ready for you to take your homebrew to the next level!

Propper Starter concentrated wort makes it easy to give your yeast the proper start when preparing high gravity brews, cold-pitched lagers, yeast packs nearing expiration and whenever a starter is recommended. No more measuring messy DME. No more waiting to boil and cool. Just mix one can with an equal amount of purified water in a sanitized flask to produce one liter of ready starter wort. For increasing biomass and vitality in your yeast, Prop It Up™ with a can of Propper Starter!

Recommended Use

One (1) can of Propper Starter makes one liter (1L) starter

How do I use Proper Starter?

1. Sanitize 2L flask, stir bar, top of can and yeast pack.

2. Swirl and open can. Pour contents into flask.

3. Add 16oz of bottled, distilled or boiled (and cooled) water to flask.

4. Pitch yeast and swirl flask to mix.

5. Add stir bar to flask, cover with foil, and mix on stir plate for 24 hours.

Will using Propper Starter change the flavor of my beer?

If you are pitching into at least 5 gallons of wort, you will not have any changes to the flavor of your beer.  At this level, the dilution ratio will be about 1:20.

Is Propper Starter OK to use with all beer styles?  What about brewing a cider or a mead?

Propper Starter is OK to pitch into any wort for beer, cider, or mead.  For a 5 gallon batch, you’re looking at a 1:20 dilution. If you are still concerned, you can let the starter cold crash and decant the spent wort.  Keep in mind that Propper Starter is made with malt extract. Consequently, a cider or mead pitched with yeast from a Propper Starter will not be gluten free if that is important to you.

Do I need to add water to the can to dilute the contents on the bottom of the can?

Adding 16oz of water to the condensed wort in the can allows for 1.040 gravity yeast starter. We recommend using the empty can to not only measure 16oz of pure water but also to ensure that all the contents of the can get rinsed out.

For high gravity brews, do I need to adjust the amount of water so that it matches the specific gravity of the beer I’m brewing?

No – dilute by cutting with an equal volume of water.  The amount of yeast generated in a starter is linked to the extract.  For example, if you added less than a can of water to yield 1.060 gravity, in theory, you’d still end up with the same amount of new cells.  This relationship starts to break down as you get higher. If you don’t dilute the wort, the osmotic pressure caused by such a high concentration of sugar can cause stress to the cells.  And when the yeast ferment it out, the high alcohol content can also cause problems. For maximum cell count and health, we recommend a 1:1 dilution of Propper Starter to water.

Is a stir plate required to use Propper Starter?

A stir plate is not required for making a yeast starter, but is highly recommended, as it will further increase cell count through continuous aeration.

What type of water can I use to dilute Propper Starter?

Bottled water, purified water, distilled water, or (cooled down) boiled tap water all work well.

How should Propper Starter cans be stored?  Do they need temperature control?

Propper Starter cans should be stored at room temperature to guarantee the longest shelf life.

Check out this blog post about how to use Proper Starter.

For more information about brewing, kegging, packaging beer and serving beer be sure to check out our Help Centre where you can find information covering all subjects for brewers of all levels.

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