Question about lager yeast starter

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poolshark021

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I am getting ready to brew an American style lager in a couple weeks and have been doing some research about how big of a starter I need. I came across the mr malty calculator and that told me that using a stir plate I need a 2L starter using 2 vials of yeast.
First of all I have never had to use 2 vials to make a starter before, is this really nessesary? Second, I usually make my starters with a pint of wort and add another pint every day until I get to the desired volume. If I do use 2 vials should I put them in together with the first pint or should I make a 1 quart batch to start out?
If it helps I am brewing a 5 gal. batch with an estimated OG of 1.054 and using white labs WLP840 American Lager yeast.
 
Lagers are not for beginners. Fermentation can be difficult and non-forgiving, so best to do it right from the beginning rather than cut corners.

If you only want to make a relatively small starter, then you need 2 vials. If they are very fresh (< 1month old), you would want to produce 2L of starter wort and pitch both vials at once, and use a stir plate. If you don't have a stir plate, you'll need closer to a 3L starter with intermittent shaking to get to the correct cell count.

If you only want to use one vial, you will need a 4L starter (stir plate) or a 6L starter (shaking).

Pitch cold (45F), ferment at 48-50F, and be sure to use pure O2 to oxygenate. You'll end up with a great lager.
 
Yeast viability depends on how fresh it is. As in when it was manufactured. The date is on the vile. If fresh, and no stir plate, you'll need 2 viles minimum. I would use 1 quart start for each vile. That should get you close to optimum pitch rate.

That said, my first lager, I pitched 1 package with no starter (newbie move). It took longer for fermentation to start, but it started after a good second shake-up and after all the beer came out really good. Granted I cold conditioned the beer for 2 months, so any esters/byproducts of under pitching went away.

2 viles in 1 quart is not optimal, neither is 2 viles in 2 separate pints. At least put 1 vile in 1 quart (.95 liter) each. You'll end up with about a 2 liter starter, which would get you there.

HTH
 
I used the Mr Malty and found that if you want to do a 1 or 2 quart starter on a stir plate you need 2 vials to reach the yeast needed. If you scale up to 3.2 or 3.5 quarts you only need one vial. I would put the yeast in with all of the starter volume at once. Usually the DME is cheaper than the second vial, so I'd take the larger route if possible.
 
I have brewed a few lagers before. The first one I didn't use a starter, and the others I used a 2L starter but only 1 vial. All of those beers turned out very good, but I realize that doesn't mean it's the right way. I just recently I found out about calculating proper starter volumes (and more importantly yeast cell counts). So 2 vials it is. I don't have room to make a starter bigger than 2L at this point.

As far as pitching temps go, should I be fermenting my starter on the stir plate at 45-50 as well so I don't shock the yeast when pitching into the main batch? Or should I leave it on the stir plate in the kitchen like normal, then chill the yeast down to that temp before pitching? Either way I will be cooling the 5 gal. down to 45-ish first.
 
W0rthog said:
Yeast viability depends on how fresh it is. As in when it was manufactured. The date is on the vile. If fresh, and no stir plate, you'll need 2 viles minimum. I would use 1 quart start for each vile. That should get you close to optimum pitch rate.

That said, my first lager, I pitched 1 package with no starter (newbie move). It took longer for fermentation to start, but it started after a good second shake-up and after all the beer came out really good. Granted I cold conditioned the beer for 2 months, so any esters/byproducts of under pitching went away.

2 viles in 1 quart is not optimal, neither is 2 viles in 2 separate pints. At least put 1 vile in 1 quart (.95 liter) each. You'll end up with about a 2 liter starter, which would get you there.

HTH
Click to expand...

vile = bad, wretched, disgusting
vial = a small enclosed container
 
I'm doing my first lager this weekend and had the same question. What temp should my starter be prior to pitching? And if it is a cooler temp, keep it on the stir plate at the lower temp or just lower it prior to pitching?
 
W0rthog said:
I suppose some things are trivial enough to overlook.
Click to expand...

Correct basic English gives your advice more credibility. Just sayin'.
 

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