I am going to make a 2L starter tomorrow and step it up 3 times before brew day on Friday. Any other suggestions? This is going to be my 2nd lager and I want it to be a success.
Sounds like you're on the right track to me... Keep it clean and make sure to give your yeast a swirly every now and then. Best of luck on your brew! Take some pictures and keep us all posted.
how fresh is this yeast? if super fresh, 1 big starter should do it. don't have any yeast calcs handy but I'm guessing 3L with super fresh yeast on stir plate will get you in the neighborhood. If super old, I would not start with 2L. If, say, 1 month old, making a 1L starter tomorrow, stir plate for a day, a day in the fridge, decant and a 2L starter back on the stir plate on Th seems like it should get you there. glad to see you so interested in a proper pitching rate for your lager though...good luck! cheers-- --Michael
The vial has a best used by May 24, 2013 so I am not sure how old that makes it. Sounds like I should make a 3L starter then? Also, the recipe says to ferment at 60 degrees for 24 hours before moving it to 50 degrees to finish fermentation. Does this sound like good practice?
Oh you're fine... No worries with that best used by date. I wouldn't even start to get concerned until June if you've kept them refrigerated and out of direct light for an extended period of time. By stepping down like you're doing would be good practice as it won't shock the yeast too much and will certainly help with getting your cell count up early in the game.
your yeast is about 2.5 months old. At that age I WOULD step it up. you didn't say what you were making or how much, so put your expected gravity/batch size numbers in yeastcalc.com to get some idea of how much you'd need. personally I'd start with 1L and then whatever the size necessary on a second step to get me about 15-20% above the number of cells it says you need, but that's just me. if this is a doppelbock I'd plan on a few more days and a third step... starting warmer works for many, and I can see the attraction. I invite you to try it once, but I much prefer to pitch a few degrees lower than my ferm temp. Like 45 when I'm fermenting at 49F. Lots of healthy yeast, yeast nutrients added late in the boil, and good oxygenation and I'm almost always doing my d-rest by the 6th day. good luck-- --Michael
Thanks for your input, this is helping a ton. I am making a Mexican Lager. I am using the recipe from Can You Brew It. It's the Ska Mexican Logger clone. The OG is 1.047 and it's 6 gallons post boil. I'll plug this into yeastcalc.com
I just did my first step starter last week for my second ever lager. My OG was in the 1.050s and I only needed 5 liters of starter. I used this: http://yeastcalc.com/ and intermittent shaking.
