I recently acquired a fermentation chamber so I am getting a couple of lagers going. Did a marzen last week and I’m doing a helles next week.
I did a 2 stage starter for the first beer with wyeast bohemian lager. When I mentioned that to the owner of my local homebrew store he told me that was overkill and a single stage, 2 liter starter is plenty. I don’t mind taking extra steps to ensure my beers come out good but am I overdoing it?
Also, I kept the Bohimian lager yeast right at 60 degrees while making both starters. I’m using munich lager for my next beer, any issues with doing a starter at that temp?
You’ll be fine… The reason why alot of yeast for lagers is the colder temps… The budding process (yeast multiplying) is slowed way down… Sneezles61
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Ahhh gotta love yeast questions because they are really easy to answer. I’ll show ya:
It depends. See. Easy.
But it really does depend on the age of the yeast your starting with in regards to viability. A new packet that was treated well (maintained cold, shipped cold, stored cold) and a 2L starter would likely be good enough for an average OG lager.
However, if you had old yeast, wasn’t treated well, or had high OG you would need more. And, do what works for you. With lagers it is really easy to underpitch and create off flavors.
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Heck I make a 1gallon batch of beer as a starter and pitch the slurry
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The owner of the local homebrew store has told me he orders fresh yeast every week, and wyeast comes out of Oregon and we are in north Washington. So its usually very fresh.
Maybe I’ll shop around for a 5000 ml flask and go that rout in the future.
I do as @brewcat says. I made a gallon of wort with dme on tuesday and put in in my fermentation chamber with another lager I am fermenting for about 4 days. Then yesterday morning I cold crashed it for a few hours and pitched the slurry after decanting. The OG was ar 1.072 though but it’s already fermenting away this morning at 50 degrees. I would probably just make a 2 liter starter minimum for any lager. Made a vienna 2 weeks ago that was only 1.047 and pitched a 2 liter starter into that as well.
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When I buy fresh yeast packs from my LHBS they’re usually less than two weeks old. I’ll do a 2 L starter, and pitch at high krauesen to a 5 gal batch. If I’m using saved slurry which has a higher viable yeast count per ml, I’ll do a 2L starter and split it to two 5 gal batches.
This is a process I’ve adopted in the last year or so after years of more anal yeast prep. I always religiously followed the calculator on brewersfriend.com and made big stepped starters which I’d let finish and decant before pitching.
With the new process I’m getting a lot shorter lag times and seeing great finished results. Thanks to some of the guys on this forum for convincing me to try this approach!
edit: starter temps are not really all that important. Warmer within reason is better because it will encourage yeast reproduction which is what you’re doing, not creating beer.
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Just to clarify the above stated process is for lagers. If it’s an ale i’m brewing I’ll do a 1 L starter with a fresh smackpack and pitch at high Kto well aerated wort. Just did this yesterday for a 1.060ish IPA. Started right up and had a big fluffy krauesen cap this morning. Yes I lifted the bucket lid to look.
Thanks for the words of wisdom, you guys are always a big help. Really looking forward to some new tasty brews.
Try it both ways. Multiple times. See what difference it makes if any. Cheers.
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[quote=“dannyboy58, post:9, topic:27874, full:true”]Yes I lifted the bucket lid to look.
[/quote]
Uuugggghhhhh. Say you really didn’t. 
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I’m a rebel without pause…
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