My first go at making a starter with the newly arrived 5 litre Erlenmeyer flask, and wow – it’s much easier when you’ve got some room to manoeuvre! I still used a small nub of Lipohop but felt that I could have gotten away with less. Might try that next time.

Also new was the Camping Gaz portable stove, which I was able to run from the kitchen sink just in case. The four vessel supports are quite narrow and screechy on the glass, so I didn’t want to take any chances with my new flask or the potential clean-up operation.

I pitched the sachet of Saflager S-189 at 21:00 and set the monster flask on the stir plate shortly afterwards at 13℃. By 07:00 next day there were some slight traces of foam around the edges and I plan to keep it stirring until 21:00 tonight, pitching tomorrow morning – so around 24 hours stirring and 12 hours rest. We’ll see how that goes.