First Lager - What's the best starter process?

[Trencher]

I've been brewing all-grain for several years now, and doing 10 gallon batches for the past year. Next weekend I want to brew my first lager as a competition entry so I want to make sure I get the starter right. I know I need to make a big starter to get my yeast up to the proper number of cells for this brew, but I'm not quite sure how to step it up to the volume I need.
Should I try to start with one smack pack of yeast, or get two and make two separate starters?

What's the best volume of starter wort to pitch the smack pack into, and how much should I step it up each time?

Should my final starter volume be the amount recommended by the Mr. Malty calculator, or is that the total volume of wort between all of my steps?

Thanks folks, I'm looking forward to a great first lager!

[ziggy]

There are several ways to go about it. You can buy all the yeast you need and not do a starter, buy one pack and step it up a couple times, or buy a couple packs and step them up fewer times in smaller volumes. According to mr malty for 10 gallons of 1050 lager you need 701 billion cells. That's 7 packs of yeast or 4 packs into a 4L starter. You could also do 2 packs into an 8L starter but that's about 2 freakin gallons.

The question is what are the limitations of your equipment? I only have a 1L and a 2L flask so I usually make a 2L starter, let it grow for 48 hours, put it in the fridge, decant the liquid, and put fresh wort on top then that gives me just enough for 5 gallons.

While Jamil's calculator has served me well I like this one a little better:
http://www.brewersfriend.com/yeast-pitc ... alculator/

[BeaverBarber]

My advice is to ferment at or near the top of your yeast's optimum fermentation temperature and when fermentation begins to slow...day 7 to 10...boost the temperature about 5 degrees. When you think all fermentation is complete, boost it again about 10 degrees just to make sure it's complete. I do lagers all the time, and I don't think it's much different than doing an ale. I like 55 degrees wort temp, which is about 48 ambient in my freezer. The biggest differences are the longer lag time and longer overall fermentation time. Don't stress about those things; it's normal.

[ziggy]

You should also check out Braukaiser. He's got a ton of stuff about brewing lagers and traditional German techniques.

[Trencher]

Thanks for the input, but I guess my questions are more directed toward general starter processes than lagers in particular. What's my best approach to grow one smack pack of yeast up to a cell count that's sufficient for pitching 10 gallons of lager?

Should I pitch into a 1L starter, decant and pitch into a 2L starter, decant and pitch into a 4L starter? Would that be counted as a 7L starter, or a 4L starter?

Ziggy, the brewersfriend pitch rate calculator helps a lot with this, thanks for the link.

[BeaverBarber]

Thanks for the input, but I guess my questions are more directed toward general starter processes than lagers in particular. What's my best approach to grow one smack pack of yeast up to a cell count that's sufficient for pitching 10 gallons of lager?

Should I pitch into a 1L starter, decant and pitch into a 2L starter, decant and pitch into a 4L starter? Would that be counted as a 7L starter, or a 4L starter?

Ziggy, the brewersfriend pitch rate calculator helps a lot with this, thanks for the link.

I usually use 2 new white labs vials and pitch it into a 1.5 to 2L starter for 1 day, and get nice results with a wort OG of 1.055ish.

[BeaverBarber]

...also, I use a stir plate and pitch the entire contents of the starter into the wort. I don't notice any off flavors from growing the yeast at room temperature.

[TheDarkSide]

I use http://yeastcalc.com to get my starter volumes, including multi-step. You should make sure you have plenty of time to do a starter, crash and decant, and step up. I usually give myself a full week if I'm stepping up once or twice.

I start with the largest volume I can (2L in my case) with one vial, let it ferment out, crash in fridge for a day or two, decant and add more starter wort and repeat if necessary. I do crash and decant before pitching. If the last step of the starter is a smaller volume, you could pitch it directly, but I'd be concerned with the lighter lagers like a Helles than I would an Octoberfest. I'd rather just crash and decant to be safe.

edit: also done on a stir plate