Starter with Corn Sugar

[neldor19]

Is it possible to use corn sugar for a starter or does it have to be DME?Ill be harvesting yeast from my primary to pitch for a batch Im brewing tommorrow.Can I just add the wort from my new batch to the yeast cake in the bottom of my primary from my old batch?Or will the trub from the old batch give me problems with autolysis and any other off flavors?

Thanks:)

[HogieWan]

go ahead and dump on top of that cake. As long as the beer your adding is the same or a more robust tasting brew, you won;t notice any difference. If you're putting a light beer on top of a stout's cake, you'll pick up a bunch of those flavors. I did this once. I put a porter on top of an english pale and it was the shortest lag I've ever seen - 6 hours later I had bubbles 1 second apart. However I did have problems getting that porter to condition later - I may have worn the yeasties out.

[BrewDog]

I agree with Hogie, dump right on the prior cake, dirty carboy, krausen ring and all (assuming you rack out of the primary and brew the new batch within a short time -- ie, rack first batch to secondary while the chiller is chilling the new batch's hot wort).
Works great.

As far as starters using sugar, I know for a fact that you definitely DON'T want to do a starter with sucrose (table sugar). The yeast will build up an enzyme in their cell walls, and they will essentially become unable to ferment maltose. This is not good at all.

Corn sugar is maltose. There are little to no other nutrients in there for the yeast to use up before fermentation begins. This can't be good for them either.

Stick with the DME (or use saved gyle from a previous batch).
It has the nutrients and you will get stronger yeast and therefore better fermentations from it.

[HogieWan]

i agree - you don't want to use corn sugar because it has no yeast nutrient. The yeast will ferment the corn sugar but will be worn out because they have no other food to eat. Image if you ate table suger and water for all your meals for one day. You would get hydration and carbohydrates (enough to survive) but nothing else. You wouldn't be up for any manual labor - why would you expect your yeast to be ready to make your beer?