First starter question??

[dgramenz]

I have my first starter in the fridge on a stir plate at 53 degrees. It's White Labs 802 Czech Lager Yeast. This is what it's looking like at 48 hours.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1455503508.430049.jpg


It this ready to crash? It had some decent foam 24 hours ago and it's looked like this all day. Far enough? Thanks

 

[IslandLizard]

Please fix your picture, it's not showing.

Update: It's showing now.

 

[dgramenz]

I can see the picture. What am I doing wrong?

 

[Gavin C]

Warm it up (take it out of the fridge). Don't need cold temperatures for starters. Room temp is optimal. Ales/lagers it doesn't matter. Yeast growth is the goal, not flavorful beer.

Once it's fermented chill for a few days (lager yeast is generally less flocculant and needs more time to settle out) decant and pitch.

What's the batch size and OG? Very small starter for a 5 gallon batch of lager.

 

[IslandLizard]

^ What he says.

 

[dgramenz]

I had plenty of time and I read several sources that said it is ideal to make a starter at the same temp as primary fermentation. It's a 5 gallon batch with OG of 1.040, so I started with 4 pints of water and 1 cup of DME. Boiled it for 10 minutes. It seemed like a lot boiled off, but I checked the OG and it was 1.040 so I continued on. The ratio of water and DME came from White Labs recommendations for lager starters. My big question is whether to let fermentation finish or to crash it now.

 

[IslandLizard]

What's the date on that vial?

Plug it into Mr.Malty or Brewers Friend's yeast calculator. They'll tell you how large your starter should be.

Note: There is some recent "research" that seems to debunk conventional starters, but let's stick to what we know.

In my early brew days I pitched one vial (no starter) of that exact same yeast in a 5 gallon batch of 1.050 Bohemian Pilsner wort and it took 4 or 5 days to see any activity on the surface (@55F). It also took several weeks to sorta finish, it never really did. Underpitching was the verdict.

 

[Gavin C]

I had plenty of time and I read several sources that said it is ideal to make a starter at the same temp as primary fermentation.

Those sources are incorrect

 

[dgramenz]

It comes from John Palmer in "How to Brew". I have no reason to believe it won't work. The starter is moving along nicely. Why would I not want to acclimate the yeast to the temp at which they'll be working on a full batch?