Drop out Yeast in starter?

[imperialipa]

Question for you guys.

I made a Lager and created a 2000ml Starter with light DME. I put it on a stirplate the day before I was brewing.

It spun all night long at room temperature.

6 hours before I was going to pitch the yeast I took it off the stir plate and put it in my Fermentation fridge set at 53 degrees.

When it came time to pitch the yeast almost nothing had dropped out. There was a little collected on the bottom but most was obviously still in suspension as the starter was very cloudy.

So I pitched all 2000ml into my carboy.

I rather wouldl have just pitched all yeast and been able to dump the DME mix. any tricks on doing this?

Do I need to do my starter a few days ahead of time and give it a full day to drop out?

Put it in the fridge to cold crash it?

My lager is bubbling away just fine but I would rather not pitch 2000ml of light DME into my all grain wort I worked so hard on perfecting

 

[Ravenshead]

I usually make my starters two to three days ahead of brew day. That way I can cold crash them overnight the day before I need them.

 

[BradleyBrew]

I agree... probably need to get a lager starter even colder to crash because *53 is still there "working" temperature.

 

[imperialipa]

So if I cold crash it in the fridge at whatever temp my fridge runs at. Is it a good idea to warm it back up to pitching temperature or just decant and pitch.

 

[Dr Malt]

Make your starter a few days ahead of time so you have time to put it in the frig (40 to 45 F) for at least 24 hrs up to 48 hrs.. This will give the yeast time to settle out. On brewday, pull the vessel out of the frig and let it sit at room temperature while you brew. Do not distrub the yeast cake in the bottom. Before pitching, carefully pour off as much of the liquid above the yeast as you want. Then swirl to resuspend the yeast and pitch.

Dr Malt

 

[Yooper]

Make your starter a few days ahead of time so you have time to put it in the frig (40 to 45 F) for at least 24 hrs up to 48 hrs.. This will give the yeast time to settle out. On brewday, pull the vessel out of the frig and let it sit at room temperature while you brew. Do not distrub the yeast cake in the bottom. Before pitching, carefully pour off as much of the liquid above the yeast as you want. Then swirl to resuspend the yeast and pitch.

Dr Malt

What he said! But sometimes even 24 hours isn't enough to drop out lager yeasts, and I plan to leave my starters in the fridge for 2-3 days before pitching.

For lagers, I like to pitch slightly cooler yeast into warmer wort. Usually, I chill the wort to 48 or so, and pitch the yeast at 46 or so, and allow it to warm up to 50 degrees for most of my lagers.