# Growing a lager starter, questions.



## Bribie G (27/4/14)

I intend to brew up a substantial lager starter from a smack pack of Wyeast 2042 Danish Lager. I have a kilo of LDME sitting around.

I'd assume that the yeast would stay pretty true whether raised on a diet of either LDME or AG wort, with a touch of nutrient?

Another question: should an initial lager starter be bred up from the smack pack at lagering temperatures or would it go better in my 17° fermenting fridge?


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## NeilArge (27/4/14)

Hi Bribie

LDME or AG wort ought to be fine as long as the SG of the starter is right.
I understand that lager yeast starters should be fermented at warmer temps than you would ferment a lager beer at: your 17C sounds about right. As someone else once said about this, with a lager yeast starter we're trying to grow yeast cells not make beer.
Cheers
ToG


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## dicko (27/4/14)

Ldme will be fine for a starter, although if you give it time before pitching you will be able to decant most of the "wort" from the top of the starter prior to pitching.
I build my starters at around 20 deg usually then I chill them to the temperature of the wort for pitching. I have read that this procedure is OK for building yeast numbers.
Another thing that I have noted with lager yeasts ( wyeast Bavarian Lager is good example) is that they drop to the bottom of the flask pretty quickly and that I have had a couple settle right out while I have been at work and actually stop the stir bar. I tend now with a healthy pack of yeast to leave it on the stir plate for around 24 hours then switch it off and let it finish and settle.
A squirt of oxygen helps to build a healthy starter as well.


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## Online Brewing Supplies (27/4/14)

25C is recommend for a wyeast starter, more growth at this temp.
O2 as Dicko mentions and add some wyeast nutrients and you are good to go.
Happy farming.
Nev


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## Yob (27/4/14)

You going to freeze some off Bribie?


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## O-beer-wan-kenobi (27/4/14)

Im building a lager starter at the moment. I saw a Youtube clip from Wyeast saying you don't want to let the starter wort to completely ferment out as the yeast doesn't like the alcoholic environment. 

I never take hydrometer readings so I never know the alcohol content but I always let mine settle out. The starter I'm doing at the moment is with WL833
(first time I have used this), been on the stirplate for 48 hrs and then switched off so it can settle overnight. This morning it is still cloudy with suspended yeast with a layer at the bottom. Normally my starters settle out by now, although this is a bigger starter than I normally do. Im hoping the growth stage is completed and I'm going to chill it to lager temps and hope all the yeast will settle out.


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## Bribie G (27/4/14)

Won't be freezing any, I'm aiming more to brew up some substantial yeast for this years' comp season and now's the time to be getting stuck into the lagers. The ones I'm aiming for can all be done on the Danish. In fact the first starter I'll probably split up and brew up two big starters out of that one then quarantine No2 under sterilised water, cooling gradually down to just above 1 degree and hold it there as I put the lagers through from now till about July. Second and third lagers might just be done by repitching slurry from the first brew, keeping No2 as an insurance policy.

Mr Malty suggests between 1030 and 1040 for the wort so it spends its time breeding, and not going anaerobic to ferment.

Edit: Time's a wastin', the lager master Lyall Cottam would start the gig in February. I believe he's retired and taken up rockabilly dancing and 50s Chevies. True. :kooi:


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## HalfWit (3/6/14)

A bit off topic but I was wondering how long a 4L starter would take to finish on a stir plate?


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## jaypes (3/6/14)

I usually do a 2L starter in about 24-36 hours


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## anthonyUK (3/6/14)

Hi Bribie,
I found this article on Maltose Falcons useful reading - http://www.maltosefalcons.com/tech/yeast-propagation-and-maintenance-principles-and-practices
This and the White/Zhainasheff Yeast book


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## TheWiggman (3/6/14)

Sooooort of in line with this thread, but I only today pitched a 2042 2l starter into my lager. After 36h on the plate (stepped up 1l > 2.2l from one pack) I took it straight off the stir plate and tipped 350ml into a stubbie and capped it for use in another brew. Is doing this better than recovering and washing some following a brew? If so thus might be my new method of splitting off yeasts. 
Getting all excited about this new stir plate. Booyakasha.


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