Lager Yeast Question.

http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

Be sure to select "Intermittent Shaking" rather than "Simple Starter" from the dropdown. (Unless you have a Stirplate, then select that.)

 

There are a few good yeast pitching calculators. Mr. Malty is one. You just move the sliders based on your process and you get an answer. How close to perfect is up for debate, but it is much better than guessing.

 

Also check out the one on wyeast. I sometimes feel that jamils can be way to conservative. I've been doing a 2 step starter for a while now. I make a 2 liter starter a week before brew day. Let it go for 2 days then fridge it to get all the yeast to fall out. Then the night before brew day, I decant the "beer" on top. I then make. 1l starter, chill it, and pour it on to the "yeast cake" of the first starter. According to the numbers this is enough for 10gal lager batch (1.060 or below), so should work for 5 gal of bock

Good luck

 

“I sometimes feel that jamils can be way too conservative.” A HUGE +1 to that!!!!

Cheers!

 

As others have said, most of us use a pitch rate calculator like Mr. Malty. Most of the time, when I'm making a lager, I find that I need to use two vials of yeast in the starter in order to keep the starter size down to something manageable. (Basically, I need to keep it under about 2L to use my stir plate, but if you're not using a stir plate, you can do something larger if need be.) There is another alternative that might be worth mentioning for your present situation: make a step starter. I'm sure there are plenty of specific instructions online as to how to do this, but basically you would take the starter you have already made, let it ferment out, cold crash it, pour off the starter beer, then add some starter wort and do it all over again. You will want to do some calculations based on the size of your original starter, its viability rate, and the OG of your bock, but with a little ingenuity you can get to that optimal pitch rate. Seriously, don't fool around with this: the most common mistake in doing lagers is to not pitch enough yeast.

 

My stirplate can't move enough the volume required to do a single stage starter for a lager from new yeast vile. I typically do 2 gallon starers in a 5 gallon carboy. I add O2 from the tank a couple times. This works pretty well.