first lager, how long can i wait to pitch yeast?

so i just finished up a schwarzbier. I have my yeast starter on its 3rd step and should have 400 billion cells by now. i still need to chill my starter overnight for the yeast to settle out. i currently have the wort in my fermenting bucket inside the fermentation chamber cooling down. will it be ok for me to pitch in the morning? or should i get the yeast chilling and pitch in a couple hours? i would prefer to get to bed here shortly, but can stay up if need be.

I have waited over night before pitching yeast, but prefer to pitch as soon as possible.

Any chance you can lay a CO2 blanket over that wort then cover with a lid while it sits over night??

I agree with helibrewer but regardless, I like to have my wort at the temp I want to ferment before pitching. I don't pitch until its at that temp. Sometimes that's 24 hours later. Seal it, get an airlock on it and if you can lay a CO2 blanket, do it.

right now its at 58 degrees. as far as co2, i dont have an easy way of getting co2 over to where my bucket is. i can get the bucket out of the fermentation chamber and bring it over to my co2 tank, then move it back. I am now planning on pitching at midnight if possible. I took my starter off the stirplate at 8pm EST and have it in the fridge now. Hopefully all the yeast will drop out of suspension by midnight. Think it will? if i pitch at midnight should i worry with the co2 blanket?

The problem with chilling the starter now to decant tomorrow is that lager yeast don't drop all that quickly with cold crashing. They do, eventually, but it won't be by tomorrow morning. More like 2 days or so, in my experience.

How big is your starter? Can you just pitch the whole thing tonight? That would be my preference if it's not like 2 gallons.

its 2 liters right now. the starter was fermented at room temp so i worry with pitching the whole thing as im sure there are some funky flavors in there right now. i didnt know that about lager yeast, makes me worry about how i steeped it up:

- made 2 liter starter, put on stirplate for 24 hours
- put in fridge overnight, decanted in the morning, made another 2 liter starter, pitched yeast
- repeat
- and now im at the 3rd "step"

if it takes 2 days for all the yeast to drop out, im guessing i probably decanted a good amount of yeast as well. in the fridge now after just a couple hours i can see about a 1/4 inch layer of yeast at the bottom. this is in a 2L flask

I finally put about 15' of tubing on my CO2 bottle so I don't have to move it around any more when topping my wines and beer...has made the task a little easier so I don't blow it off out of laziness

yea eventually my keggerator will be in my brew room, but right now its sitting right beside my computer desk. most of the time its very convenient

If it's only two liters, I'd just pitch the whole thing. About 1.5 liters of it will be spent (oxidized) wort, but it's better than waiting to pitch in my opinion.

If the spent wort was ultra clear when you decanted, you'd probably be fine. When I make lager starters, they are never crystal clear in a day in the fridge. I usually make my starter well in advance, so that it can spend at least three days in the fridge so I can decant the spent wort. If the spent wort wasn't crystal clear, then you were pouring yeast down the drain with the spent wort, though.

haha definitely sounds like i lost some yeast. so with that in mind, i am probably underpitching this beer. should i pickup some dry yeast to throw in with it tomorrow? i need around 400 billion cells.

ill now plan on pitching the whole flask as soon as the wort reaches the proper temp. hopefully my screw up wont be reflected too much in the final product

nootay said:

haha definitely sounds like i lost some yeast. so with that in mind, i am probably underpitching this beer. should i pickup some dry yeast to throw in with it tomorrow? i need around 400 billion cells.

ill now plan on pitching the whole flask as soon as the wort reaches the proper temp. hopefully my screw up wont be reflected too much in the final product

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Well, even with your "lost" yeast, you're pitching 3+ packs of yeast, comparatively. So while not an ideal pitching rate, you're probably just fine. I'd pitch and wait 36 hours before considering adding any dry yeast.

sounds good, thanks for the info! i think with my future lagers ill be using a dry yeast until i can get my hands on a 4l flask