Starting lagers

After you pitch your yeast, do you leave it at room temp a while and wait for fermentation to start or do you put it directly in the frig at 55?

I used a wyeast activator yeast and the pack was expanded. I pitched it at room temp, put in frig and 36 hours later no activity. I set it out overnight at room temp and next morning it was actively fermenting.

i had sorta the same problem. using dry i pitched @85 and stuck it in the fridge think it chilled to quick cause it never fermented until i took it out of the fridge 3 days later then was done in less than 24 hours sitting back in the fridge now, gboing to clearing tonite. calling it steam pilsner

oh yeah upon further research you should wait for ferm to start before cooling below 60 unless using a starter

There is some debate on the "best" way to start a lager but everyone I've talked to recomends a monster sized starter. A vial or smack pack just isn't enough yeast cells to do the job. I don't ever ferment my lagers at room temperature or even start them there although some brewers do. I'm not a big lager fan, but when I make them I really want the clean crisp flavor profile that the lager yeast provides and that only works if the fermentation is at lager temperatures.

What I do is make the starter and ferment at coolish room temperature and step it up a few times and then chill it and decant the spent wort (I don't want that spent wort in my lager after fermenting it at room temperature). It takes about a week to get a large amount of yeast. Then, when the yeast is at 45-48 degrees and my wort is at 50 degrees, I pitch the yeast into it. It seems like the cooler yeast and the slightly warmer wort get going quickly. After the primary is just about done, I do the diacetyl rest (if needed), then rack and secondary for a couple of weeks and then start dropping the temp for the lagering period.