lager starter temps

[jeff62217]

Brewing my first lager. Started a starter a day before, 1.5L w/stirplate. Wyeast 2124.

I've had my starter at room temp (65-68F) for 10 hours. I plan on fermenting around 50F and have read to chill your starter to 47-48 and pitch into slightly warmer wort.

I probably won't pitch for another 24-32 hours, when should I chill the starter down to high 40s?

 

[BigFloyd]

I usually cold crash my lager starters 24 hours, decant most of the beer off, and then let it sit in my fermenter chamber to get into the 40's while I brew.

What's the expected OG of your lager? Have you checked to see what your pitch rate will be with a 1.5L plate starter? Keep in mind that lager base pitch rates should be double that of ales (1.50 vs. 0.75).

Also, with a plate, you don't need to run the starter more than 14-18 hours. An advantage of using a stirplate is that it shortens the time period to obtain max cell count.

 

[jeff62217]

yeah the mrmalty said 1.25L with 2 packs, roughly 375 billion cells.

I only used one smack pack, my target OG is 1.051 or thereabouts. Grain bill is just over 10lbs.

Noticed not too many cells clumped together on the bottom of the flask, but with the stir bar going, lots in suspension likely.