Lager yeast pitch temp/ferment temp

[nckmsn]

I am brewing a low gravity (1.035 og) pilsner with White Labs Pilsner yeast. I made a starter 24 hours prior to pitch and the starter seemed to achieve high krausen. I pitch the yeast at 70 degrees.

My question is if it is okay to put the fermenter in the keezer at 55 degrees approximately 2 hours after pitching. Is this going to lower the temperature of the fermenter too quickly? I have made lagers before but if I remember right I may have waited for the fermenter to show signs of good fermentation before cooling it down. I would like to cool the fermenter down right away rather than waiting for fermentation to start. I am hoping to cool sooner to make a cleaner lager.

What do you dudes think?

 

[Yooper]

Ideally, you'd pitch at 45-48 degrees or thereabouts and let it rise up to 50 or whatever your fermentation temperature is.

I don't pitch ales at 85 degrees and then lower to 65 degrees, and I don't pitch lagers 20 degrees warmer either. If you lower the temperature now, and the starter is big enough, you should be fine.

Warm pitching is simply a way to try to compensate for underpitching, and is never a good idea if other options are available.

 

[nckmsn]

Ideally, you'd pitch at 45-48 degrees or thereabouts and let it rise up to 50 or whatever your fermentation temperature is.

I don't pitch ales at 85 degrees and then lower to 65 degrees, and I don't pitch lagers 20 degrees warmer either. If you lower the temperature now, and the starter is big enough, you should be fine.

Warm pitching is simply a way to try to compensate for underpitching, and is never a good idea if other options are available.

I understand what you are saying. The reason why I pitched at 70 was simply because that is what the temp of my starter was. So with what you are saying, do you chill your starter prior to pitch or do you do your starter at regular lager fermentation temperatures?

Thanks

 

[sfgoat]

I do my starters at regular lager temp so that the yeast hasn't had to reproduce under unnecessary stress.

 

[nckmsn]

I do my starters at regular lager temp so that the yeast hasn't had to reproduce under unnecessary stress.

Well maybe I haven't done this the best way, but I still want to find out the best thing to do at this point.

I pitched at 70 degrees and then put my fermenter in my keezer and I am cooling it down to 55 degrees. Do you guys think that this is okay or should I wait for visible fermentation prior to chilling?

 

[BigFloyd]

Chill to 55 ASAP.

You need not pitch a lager starter into too warm wort just because you did the starter at room temp. Pitch into mid-40's wort and let it come up to the beginning temp (usually 48-50*F).

I always cold crash my lager starters for at a least a day so the I can decant off the yucky starter beer. The yeast ends up about the same temp as my properly chilled wort anyway.

 

[nckmsn]

Chill to 55 ASAP.

You need not pitch a lager starter into too warm wort just because you did the starter at room temp. Pitch into mid-40's wort and let it come up to the beginning temp (usually 48-50*F).

I always cold crash my lager starters for at a least a day so the I can decant off the yucky starter beer. The yeast ends up about the same temp as my properly chilled wort anyway.

Thanks for your response. I will definitely do this differently next time. My concern with dropping the temp quickly was that the yeast would drop out.

Also, I screwed up by only making my starter 1L, but this may work in my favor since I pitched without decanting.

 

[nckmsn]

As a follow up (The next day) I checked the fermenter and it is fermenting away. So the small yeast starter and the temperature change didn't hurt much. I will also follow up to see if the starter had an affect on the flavor.

 

[andeecapp]

Hey nckmsn, did you find any off flavors at the end of this batch? Just following up because I had a similar situation.



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[nckmsn]

No off flavors at all. I did detect some dms but it went away with time.

Hey nckmsn, did you find any off flavors at the end of this batch? Just following up because I had a similar situation.



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[andeecapp]

Awesome. That's encouraging. Mine's fermenting away at 55. Excited to taste it. Thanks.

No off flavors at all. I did detect some dms but it went away with time.

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