Cold crashing starters

[Chrisbrewbeers]

I asked this in another thread that I guess was mostly nonsense and never got an answer. My question is how does cold crashing a starter affect lag time for others? It always, at least over the last few times gave me 20-30 hr lag time or more vs 3 hr if I just dump it in there.

 

[flars]

Increased lag time may temperature related. If you pitch the starter cold into a comparably warm wort, it is stress on the yeast, a longer lag time.
If you let the starter warm to pitching temperature, about 60°F to 64°, less stress and shorter lag time.
Some have said pitching a active starter will give an even shorter lag time.

 

[Jogurt]

You can either add the starter at "high krausen" when there is most activity. This will naturally result in shortest lag time.

Another option is waiting for the yeast to settle after fermenting the starter completely. In that case you want to wait additional 12 hours after reaching terminal gravity, so the yeast can build glycogen reserves. This is advisable when you have big starter with a lot of liquid.

That is basically what Chris White and JZ advise in the Yeast book. AFAIK they do not directly address cold crashing starters. However, what they do address is that you should always pitch the yeast as close to the wort temperature as possible.

I'd say cold crashing is fine, after all that is what you do when harvesting yeast from slurry and storing in refrigerator. It will result in longer lag time than pitching at high krausen, but it should not be a critical difference.

However 20-30 hours lag time seems like a lot to me.

 

[Roadie]

I let cold crashed starters warm up to pitching temperature before adding to the wort. I have never had to wait 30 hours for signs of active fermentation but have never really seen it in 3 hours either. It's not a race as long as you get a good end result.