Cedar Rapids Brewing Society

Should a lager starter be done cold? I just have it spinning on my kitchen right now (~65-68) but could move it to the basement where it's about 60.

No, but I would recommend decanting it, especially if it's a large starter.  Most of my lager starters are around 3L, which seems like way too much starter wort for any beer, regardless of style.  I've actually run into problems doing cooler starters for lagers - it's hard to predict when they'll be done & you may pitch too little yeast as a result.

On Tuesday, March 26, 2013, kjball wrote:

Should a lager starter be done cold? I just have it spinning on my kitchen right now (~65-6 but could move it to the basement where it's about 60.



Bad people drink bad beer. You don't usually see an empty bottle of Rochefort tossed onto the side of the road

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Thanks, I'm at 3L now and plan to decant and step it up once it's done.

Also, it has been my experience that lager starters, even warm, are slower than ale. YMMV, could have just been the yeasties I had. I've only done two lagers. But yeah, I would definitely decant.