Liquid lager yeast starter disaster?

[Jimmy321]

First time using liquid yeast, made a 2.5l 250g DME starter on Friday with the intention of pitching it on Sunday so I brewed 23L of 1048 wort on Sat and put the FV in to my fridge to bring it down to 10°C.

Put the starter in to my fridge on Saturday night but all the yeast was still in suspension so I put it in my chest freezer at 0° on Sunday and as of an hour ago only a small amount had settled on the bottom so I gave it a really good shake and dumped the lot in to the FV.

It looked like there was loads of yeast when I pitched the starter and the wort looked ultra clean and was at the same gravity, the starter was shaken violently about 20 times in the first 24 hours and when it would not settle out I dropped the temp of the FV to 5°C to try and keep it fresh.

Questions...

Should I have made my starter a week or more before brewing?

Should I raise the temp a bit early to help the yeast say about 1025-1020?

Will the yeast be suitable for washing as I was planning to make a 1060 gravity beer straight after this one.

 

[evanvine]

The point of making a starter is to prove the viability of the yeast!
You don't pitch until you know the yeast is working! :nono:

 

[Jimmy321]

You don't pitch until you know the yeast is working! :nono:

Thanks, I assumed it would be OK as best before is Sep-23-13 and was kept in the fridge. Looks like I should have made the starter a week before.

 

[Hollow Legs]

All the starters that I have made are done on the day of brewing, if you have the yeast in the fridge then you need to keep it out until it reaches room temp and then add the malt/brew sugar or wort and wait until it starts(I have an airlock on my vessel) and then add it to your brew when that is at the correct temp.

 

[anthonyUK]

All the starters that I have made are done on the day of brewing, if you have the yeast in the fridge then you need to keep it out until it reaches room temp and then add the malt/brew sugar or wort and wait until it starts(I have an airlock on my vessel) and then add it to your brew when that is at the correct temp.

I wouldn't say that is a starter exactly as it is unlikely you'd be able to grow the required cells in that time unless your batches are very small.
Are we talking about the same thing?

Some info on starters - http://www.mrmalty.com/starter_faq.php

 

[Hollow Legs]

antony uk, no you are probably right it's not a true starter but as Evanvine says I know that the yeast is working and have not had any brews not start within two/three hours of adding the yeast.

Thanks for the link.

 

[Good Ed]

Although Jim Evanvine is correct that making a starter proves the viability of the yeast, the purpose of a starter is to grow enough yeast cells to pitch into your beer for optimal results. This is where Mr Malty comes in, also his and Chris White's book, Yeast. For lagers you need to pitch a big starter for best results, and for doing what I describe below start about 10 days before brewday. I actually start 2 weeks before and do the first step twice, the first split into two and one goes in the fridge for future, the other goes forward.

So for a lager at OG 1048 you need ~400bn cells, a White Lab vial contains ~100bn cells, so you need to grow more yeast with a starter and although there are several ways to do this, I find this the easiest; 1 vial with a 2L starter (2L water 200g DME boiled and cooled) chill and decant off spent wort, step up with 4L starter (4L water 400g DME boiled and cooled) chill and on brew day decant off spent wort and take 500ml of your wort half way through your boil, cool and add to your yeast 30mins before pitching. For lager pitch at say 9C and ferment at 10-12C for as long as it takes, 3 weeks can be quite normal.

I use WLP830 or WLP833, or WLP810 to ferment warmer and have never had any issues with diacetyl or off flavours, and mostly store in the cellar for longer rather than lager.