Lager Yeast Starter Help

I am attempting to make my first lager today. I am attempting to make a yeast starter with a Wyeast Bohemian Lager smack pack. I boiled 1/2 cup DME into 2 cups water. Cooled to room temp and pitch yeast into starter yesterday morning. I left it sit in the kitchen all day yesterday at around 65 F. I didn't notice any bubbling or foam on the surface. So before I went to bed I moved the starter to a slightly warmer part of the house around 70-75. I woke up this morning and I still don't see any activity. Should I have the starter in a cooler place? I thought I had to keep it around 70 until I see some action and then move it somewhere around 50 F? The manufacturer date on the yeast was May 08.
I bought a pack of Safale Lager 23. I could use it insted but I hate to waste $8 on a smack pack. Thanks.

Sometimes you will not see any visible signs of fermentation on starters. Sometimes if im not sure i'll pour off a little bit and taste it to see if it fermented. I've noticed on all of the lagers i've made so far there is much less visible activity on them than there is on ales. I made a munich helles a few months ago, a 6 gallon batch with a 1 gallon starter, when it was all said and done, the wort + starter in the carboy was about an inch or two from the opening on the carboy. I expected to have some huge blow-off problems, but to my surprise no problems at all. The yeast only left a small layer of bubbles on the top, almost like when apfelwein is fermenting.

Your process looks right, i make more ales than i do lagers, but i grow up the yeast at room temp for both. For the lagers I then bring the temp down to drop the yeast to the bottom, decant a lot of the beer, swirl it to mix the yeast in with what beer is left in the container and then pour in the yeast.

That makes me feel a little better. I guess I assumed you would see some kind of action. It looked like all the yeast had fallen to the bottom when I looked at it this morning. I shake it up everytime I walk past it. If anyone else has a different way.......

Swirl the vessel and if it foams your probably OK. That does seem like a small starter for a lager though. Do you plan on stepping it up? I would step it a few times to get to 3-4 Liters, put in fridge the night before, then get it to 50 before pitching, and decant.

I'm no starter expert so this is a question to see if I am doing it wrong but isn't 1/2 cup dme into 2 cups of water very strong? I usually do 1/2 cup dme into 3.8 cups of water.

shertz said:

Swirl the vessel and if it foams your probably OK. That does seem like a small starter for a lager though. Do you plan on stepping it up? I would step it a few times to get to 3-4 Liters, put in fridge the night before, then get it to 50 before pitching, and decant.

Click to expand...

Sorry not trying to thread hijack but is there a reason you suggest putting it in the fridge the night before which would take it down to the 30's and then letting it warm up to 50 or would putting it in a keezer set at 50 do the same thing?

I use the 100 grams per 1L. I would weigh things out instead of using cups.

As far as temp, I like it to get as cold as possible to have the yeast drop out. At 50, the yeast may fall a little, but probably not as fast. I've never done it at 50 so I'm just speculating. If you find it does fall out by morning, then by all means keep it at 50.

After brewing I left the wort outside in the garage to cool overnight. It was 43 F in the morning so I set up my fermenting chamber in a spare bedroom (the coldest place in the house). I put the yeast starter in the garage with the wort last night. I waited until this morning to pitch the yeast. I am still concerned about the viability of the yeast though. It really doesn't look like they are doing much in the starter. When I swirl the jar it doesn't foam up and it still smells like an unfermented starter. The yeast had settled out last night so I decanted most of the water and pitched it in. I decided to also put in a pack of saflager 23 in the wort just in case. I figured it won't make it blow up or anything. Did I do the right thing........?

You probably will have most of the fermentation done by the Saflager yeast. You did fine making the starter, and should have given it more time. I would suggest that when you make lagers, though, to make the starter larger and start earlier. Like at least 3-4 days earlier. I make the starter (same amounts of water and DME as you do) and then after it's fermented out in a couple of days, step it up, adding the same amount of wort. If it's a lager over 1.050, I do that one more time. When it's finished, I stick it in the fridge for a day and then decant the spent wort. On brew day, I remove the starter from the fridge and let it rise to about 48 degrees. I then pitch it into 50 degree wort. It goes pretty well then- the slightly warmer wort and a bigger quantity of yeast encourages it to get going.

For an idea of the amount of yeast you should have used, check out: mrmalty.com Then click on the yeast pitching calculator. I bet you'll be surprised when you see how much yeast is optimal for that lager!

Thanks Yoop....maybe I should have waited on the starter another day. I started it the same time I start my ale starters......live and learn. I will give it a few more days next time. Thanks for the quick reply. Do you think Wyeast Bohemian Lager and Saflager23 is a funky mix?