nostalgia
Well-Known Member
Man my Google-fu must stink. I'm sure this has been answered before but...
I'm planning my first lager and a large starter seems to be usually recommended for lagers: a gallon is the last figure I saw.
So I'm cool with making a starter (never done it, but done plenty of sourdough starters and watched videos on beer starters). What I'm hazy on is stepping up.
Let's say I start with 32oz of water + 1cp of DME and pitch my smack-pack into it. It ferments merrily away on my counter for a day or two.
Now do I just make 32oz of wort, dump it into the existing starter and shake it up? Repeat over 2 more days?
Or do I now make 64oz of wort, decant the old wort and just pitch the yeast?
Also, how does one know when its time to build up? I've been reading about "high kraeusen" but haven't seen anything on how to tell when you've reached that point.
Thanks for any direction,
-Joe
I'm planning my first lager and a large starter seems to be usually recommended for lagers: a gallon is the last figure I saw.
So I'm cool with making a starter (never done it, but done plenty of sourdough starters and watched videos on beer starters). What I'm hazy on is stepping up.
Let's say I start with 32oz of water + 1cp of DME and pitch my smack-pack into it. It ferments merrily away on my counter for a day or two.
Now do I just make 32oz of wort, dump it into the existing starter and shake it up? Repeat over 2 more days?
Or do I now make 64oz of wort, decant the old wort and just pitch the yeast?
Also, how does one know when its time to build up? I've been reading about "high kraeusen" but haven't seen anything on how to tell when you've reached that point.
Thanks for any direction,
-Joe