beer making, step one: original post 9/16/2009

so i went a head and made my yeast starter today. last night i took out my slap pack and got it going. when i got home from work today it was ready to burst. boiled up some water, added the DME and a couple hop pellets and let it go for a few. meanwhile i sterilized my starter container in the oven and mixed up a solution of sanitizer. i didnt have a small funnel so i cut off the end of a one liter soda bottle. it worked great. so far, so good. the yeast is reacting exactly the way i thought it would. when it finishes tomorrow sometime i am going to add another 1/2 pint of starter just to have plenty. saturday i plan to brew. as somone who hasnt brewed yet, the nice thing about doing a starter is the solidification in your brain on how brewing actually works. in all reality, by making a starter you are making a little tiny mini batch of beer. it gives a whole new meaning to the term, "microbrew."