Homebrewers,
Was planning to brew my first lager on Sunday. Incidentally, I am making my first yeast starter too :!:
According to yeast calc, I will need to do a two stage starter. If I make the starter tomorrow morning (Friday), would that be enough time to let the yeast do their thing? I have a stir plate. I want to do it right, so if I need to put it off a few days, so be it.
Thanks
How long you need depends on how fresh the liquid yeast is (don’t make a starter if you are using dry yeast). I will generally set aside 1 day per month since the manufacturing date on the package. I rarely do multi-step starters and I don’t use a stir plate, but from a time standpoint those two things should cancel each other out.
If the yeast is old, it will take a long time for it to get going. I’ve had yeast packs that take 5 days to swell the package, then another couple days before they are visibly active in the starter. Once it is in high gear, it will finish in a day, and then can be put in the fridge to flocculate out in a few hours.
I don’t think you’ll have time to do a 2 step starter properly for a sunday brew. You’ll need at least 4 days with ferment/coldcrash/decant/repeat. Probably longer for it to finish. Maybe you could do a single step & add a second pkg. of yeast to make up for the lack of cells. As RC stated, it all depends on the date of yeast & viability. Good luck! :cheers:
