JNish
Well-Known Member
I'm brewing the Bohemian Pilsner from BCS and it is my first lager and second time using a starter. With a 5.5gal batch size and OG of 1.056, the Mr. Malty calculator says I need a 2L starter using 2 vials of liquid lager yeast, which I did. I started my lager yeast yesterday at room temp and it is approaching 24hrs and has a lot of bubbling activity right now. BTW, I'm using a stir plate and flask.
I didn't really plan on a long starter time and my wort is sitting in the fridge. I'm a little concerned about contamination because I used an immersion chiller to chill to around 70F, then sealed up the kettle and threw it into the temp controlled freezer at 34F (to avoid any bacterial growth). I forgot about the no-chiller method, will have to do this next time.
I was planning on letting the starter go for 24 hours, then putting into the fridge to flocculate the yeast, decant after 24 hour chill time, then pitch the slurry to my wort. I'll raise the temperature of the fridge to 44F so both wort and starter will be at the same temperature.
So my questions are:
Is 24 hours enough time for a lager yeast starter to propagate before crash cooling? Is 24 hours enough chill time for flocculation?
If not, how do you tell when the starter is ready? The Mr. Malty starter FAQs say that you don't want to select the less flocculant yeast by crash cooling too early, but it doesn't say what are the signs to look for.
Will my wort be okay while my starter is doing its thing?
Thanks,
James
I didn't really plan on a long starter time and my wort is sitting in the fridge. I'm a little concerned about contamination because I used an immersion chiller to chill to around 70F, then sealed up the kettle and threw it into the temp controlled freezer at 34F (to avoid any bacterial growth). I forgot about the no-chiller method, will have to do this next time.
I was planning on letting the starter go for 24 hours, then putting into the fridge to flocculate the yeast, decant after 24 hour chill time, then pitch the slurry to my wort. I'll raise the temperature of the fridge to 44F so both wort and starter will be at the same temperature.
So my questions are:
Is 24 hours enough time for a lager yeast starter to propagate before crash cooling? Is 24 hours enough chill time for flocculation?
If not, how do you tell when the starter is ready? The Mr. Malty starter FAQs say that you don't want to select the less flocculant yeast by crash cooling too early, but it doesn't say what are the signs to look for.
Will my wort be okay while my starter is doing its thing?
Thanks,
James