Hops Yeast Starter

"Not sure if you can keep it for a long time, like a sourdough starter."

Why not a starter from hops?   And a sourdough starter can be kept for years, if not centuries.  I was chatting with my Aunt, she's hitting 80 soon, and she told me she and her Mother kept a starter for as long as she can remember.  It was also her Grandmother's and when package yeast came out, they stopped the starter.  I'm afraid this happened to many starters at the time.   We are the wiser and can now make our own, so why not start one using hops?  Much like the apple starter?  (actually it's the yeasties in the flour, the fruit might create the proper pH for growth) Hops used for flavor, will be bitter so it might make an interesting twist.  I've held the concentrated pellets in my hand and they do smell like fresh mowed hay. So, When are you going to try it?   --Mini Oven

I found instructions in a vintage cook book too, it is a recipe that calls for hops and potatoes, and that I chose because the author writes it is "self working", that is it does not require to add yeast.

I used dry hops I bought where beer brewing supplies are sold, since my own plant of hops is young and rather scrawny at the moment.

If it turns out well, including the results of a loaf of bread made with it, I was actually planning to write a post about it. I am very curious about how it will turn out :-)

Good point.  That could very well happen.  A taster booster could be made using a hops tea  instead of plain water for feeding,  or...      --Mini Oven

Noodlelady I was wondering the same thing, and I think as Mini Oven suggests that hops tea could be used for feedings.

On the other hand, it occurred to me that to make a starter there is a method (that is used, as far as I know, in Italy but probably elsewhere as well) which requires to mix pureed raw fruit (such as ripe apples or pears) with twice as much flour. But once fermentation starts, the feedings are done with water, the fruit is merely providing the right environment for the yeast, and it is not used after the first stage.

I have used Cascadian hops that have a very pleasant citrucy aroma and I think it would be nice to retain that aroma in the starter.

It will be great to compare our results and recipes once we have finished with our experiments! :-)

for flavor, I would combine it with coarsely milled grain berries.  Add a little honey and nd malt  and water and see what happens. 

Mini O

Just found a note on an old recipe of my aunt's (who has long since passed away) that said her mother used to keep a jar of liquid that she called "everlasting yeast" which she used for all her bread baking. The note said it used hops but my aunt didn't know how it was made. So I checked the internet and found this thread. Would love to get some good instructions for how it's made. The same aunt told me years ago that Grandma also made her own dry yeast by spreading a thin layer of sourdough on a big pan, allowing it to dry, then crumbling it up into a jar. My aunt and grandma were both fabulous bread bakers, famous for their "hot rolls" which were always ready with a bowl of beans for anyone who stopped by.

I know it has been a long time since this thread had any activity, but I came across this by way of an external search for one of my grad class papers.  If anyone is still interested in making baking yeast cakes or sourdough starter from hops "hops yeast," you might check out this 1979 library article:  https://thelibrary.org/lochist/periodicals/bittersweet/sp79i.htm

I have saved it for later when I hope to have my own fresh home grown hops with which to experiment.  :-)  (Great-grandpa was a hopsmeister in Milwaukee in the late 1800s.)  I am not particularly fond of hoppy beers (I prefer darker malty beers), but I love yeasty fresh bread.  LOL