Wyeast 2124

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bluemoose

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I haven’t used this yeast before. I am making a lager. My question is when building the starter, do I need to temp control at lager temps, or can I make the starter at 68 degrees? Pros and cons of lager temp on the starter vs ale temps?
Thanks
 
I've used this yeast several times, makes a great lager and clears well. I've always made step-up starters at room temp 64-68 degrees F with no problems. On brew day morning I put starter in my ferm fridge and cool it down a bit before pitching.
 
Starter at room temp, but then put in fridge to cool and try to pitch within 10 degrees of the beer temp so you don't shock the yeast.
 
Thank you for the responses. Of course I realize that yeast can be used well above their ideal temp range, but that can lead to some off flavors. So while it can theoretically be done, are there going to be flavor consequences of doing a 1000ml starter at a higher temp than is advised?
Scrap, have you tried making a starter at lager fermenting temp, or not made a starter and noticed a difference, or have you always made the starter at 64-68?
Thanks
 
are there going to be flavor consequences of doing a 1000ml starter at a higher temp than is advised

Short answer: no. I make all of my lager starters at room temperature. When making a starter you care about biomass not flavors. I usually do a two-stage starter for WY 2124, 2308, and 2206 (my three favorite strains). I start with a 1.6L starter and then prop that up to 4L using 1.036 wort.

Once the starter is done, cool it to lager temperatures as @jdauria suggests. This will help the yeast to flocculate out. You can then decant the supernatant (foul tasting beer that the yeast has made). I typically decant all the supernatant leaving the yeast on the bottom of the flask. Then I put some some of the wort from my batch into the flask, swill it around in the flask to mobilize the yeast (it’s amazing how quickly the yeast wake up when they sense sugar!), pitch, and oxygenate.

There are other methods that work well (search "shaken not stirred starter”) but I like the old-school step-up-in-a-conical-with-a-stir-plate method.
 
Duncan,
This is the starter process I use with ale yeast. Sounds like I can do the same with lager yeast without adverse consequences. Just wanted to make sure as I always keep my ale starters within the specific yeast temp sweet spot. I will have to make a two stage starter to get enough cells to manage this beer.
 
Sounds like I can do the same with lager yeast without adverse consequences.

Yep. This beer was made with a starter fermented in the high 60s with no temperature control and then cooled to 40 F before decanting the supernatant and pitching into 42 F wort. The beer itself was fermented using the profile below. The beer never saw higher temps that 48F during primary, and was lagered at 32F for three months. We demolished a couple of gallons of it in one night. The only problem with this beer is that it takes 4 months to brew and a couple of weeks to drink!


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Starter at room temp, yeast like warmer temps to grow and thats all you are doing when making a starter is rejuvenating and growing your yeast
 
Thank you for the responses. Of course I realize that yeast can be used well above their ideal temp range, but that can lead to some off flavors. So while it can theoretically be done, are there going to be flavor consequences of doing a 1000ml starter at a higher temp than is advised?
Scrap, have you tried making a starter at lager fermenting temp, or not made a starter and noticed a difference, or have you always made the starter at 64-68?
Thanks
I always make starters in a cool back bedroom around low- mid 60's, lagers and ales. I cool or crash and decant them before pitch so no worries about flavors. When using liquid yeast I always make a starter to step up the count especially for lagers and if I'm reusing saved that has been in the fridge for awhile.
Dry yeast, no starter unless it's slurry.
 
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