Speeding up a lager starter?

phecke · 02-24-2011, 02:29 PM

So I want to brew a Maibock this Sunday, my first attempt at a lager. I made a 1L starter on Tuesday night (2/22) and have been letting it do it's thing for the past 36ish hours @ 55 degrees. It's still going strong, but looks to be coming out of the high krausen right now. I now know that I could have done it warmer to go faster, but I was just trying to keep one consistent temp.

My problem is this, I want to do a 4L starter and have it ready to go for Sunday evening, and as can be seen I'm running short on time. My plan was to step it up from the 1L to the 4L after the 1L finished.

So how can I be assured of having a 4L starter ready to go? My thoughts were this:

1.) Take the gravity of the 1L starter tonight.
2.) Make 3L of wort with a high enough gravity so that when I add the 1L starter the total gravity is 1.040ish.
3.) Let the now 4L starter ferment for 48 hours (this puts it finishing on Saturday night) at 65-68 degrees (hopefully speeds it up so it can finish in 48 hours)
4.) Crash cool in fridge for 12-18 hours.
5.) Decant and pitch

Is this realistic? A decent plan? Any other suggestions? Or should I just scrap brewing this Sunday and do it next weekend when the yeast have more time to do their thing in the starter?

devilishprune · 02-24-2011, 03:08 PM

Sounds like a plan, but I think that you might want to cold crash for as long as you can because of the amount of yeast that you are going to have in suspension for such a large starter. If you ferment your current starter at room temperature it will probably go a lot faster.

**Yooper** · 02-24-2011, 03:11 PM

You can ferment the starter at room temperature- after all, you're growing yeast, not making beer. I'd add the wort today, and let it go. Then, stick the starter in the fridge Sat. morning, decant the spent wort right before pitching, and pitch it in your chilled wort on Sunday.

rjwhite41 · 02-24-2011, 03:16 PM

I think it will work but you need to get that starter done tonight. If you're not decanting, I wouldn't even worry about the gravity of the 1L.

phecke · 02-24-2011, 03:53 PM

Thanks for the replies! I'm having SWMBO pull the small starter out to let it get to room temp, hopefully get it going faster. I'll then make the big starter tonight when I get home and let it go at room temp until Saturday.

wildwest450 · 02-24-2011, 04:44 PM

It can take a long time for lager yeast to drop, even in the fridge.

_

theredben · 02-26-2011, 03:50 AM

Don't forget that no one is forcing you to pitch as soon as the wort is cool. Pitching the next morning or even 2 days later is okay (but not ideal) if the yeast is really not ready yet.