couple of lager questions

Hey guys!
I'm planning on doing my first lager next week, she's going to be a pilsner. I've got an idea on a schedule but would like your opinions before I actually do it. I'm planning on 4 weeks at 55 degees, 1 week of bringing it up to 68 degrees and letting it stay there for 2 days before taking a week to drop the temperature down to 32 degrees for another 4 weeks. Does this sound about right? Also, I was wondering about proper pitching temperatures. I have a good 3 quart starter going already and plan on pitching it at about 52 degrees. My question is: should I chill the wort down to 55 degrees before pitching or pitch at the the 75ish degrees that the wort comes out at from my counterflow? If the answer is chill first, do I just slap the airlock on and put it in the lager chest until it reaches proper temperature? Thanks for the help!

This would be my suggestion (but of course you can make great beer many ways):
Be insanely pedantic about your sanitation, run the wort through your CFC, cover it up and put it in the fridge to chill it. Next day you may even like to consider racking it off the trub into another fermenter before pitching your yeast. Pitch cold and let it warm up some until you reach your fermentation temperatures and you may not even need a diacetyl rest. Let it ferment out (~4 weeks) then lager it (~4 weeks).

what wolfy said.

Instead of deciding for them how your yeast will behave, I propose that you let them tell you when to increase the temperature. I just watch for the kraeusen to start falling, then raise the temp to keep the yeast active and finish the beer instead of hibernating. You can use a hydrometer; raise the temp when the beer is within 5-10 points of expected terminal.

944play said:

Instead of deciding for them how your yeast will behave, I propose that you let them tell you when to increase the temperature. I just watch for the kraeusen to start falling, then raise the temp to keep the yeast active and finish the beer instead of hibernating. You can use a hydrometer; raise the temp when the beer is within 5-10 points of expected terminal.

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Yeah, I doubt the yeast know that your schedule has them in primary for 4 weeks.

Use a big lager yeast starter- consult mrmalty.com's pitching calculator to get the correct amount.

Don't pitch warm and then lower the temperature. It works, but you have more chances for off-flavors since the yeast can start working and even nearly finish fermentation before you get to 50 degrees. I like to pitch at about 48 degrees for a 50 degree fermentation.

For the diacetyl rest, it's usually best to do it when fermentation is about 75% of the way to FG. That way the yeast are still active, but the vast majority of fermentation is finished. This should take about 10 days or so. If you want four weeks, the yeast will be done and flocculated out. Not a big issue, unless you have diacetyl. Then it's tough to get them working again on the diacetyl.

After the diacetyl rest, I rack and begin the lagering. I like to lager at 34 degrees for every 8-10 points of OG. So, for an OG of 1.064, I'd lager for 6-8 weeks.