This weekend, I brewed 15 gallons of a mexican lager. I was using Omega OYL 113 which has an optimum ferm temp of 50-55*F.
My plan for a starter was a 2L starter, crashed and decanted, and stepped up to a 5L starter, which would then be crashed and decanted. Everything seemed to go OK. I crashed and decanted the 2L, boiled up 5L of starter wort and added the yeast from the first step to it. The 5L ran for 18 hours on the stir plate. I then placed it in my kegerator at ~38*F and crashed it for 22 hours or so.
Here's my problem - when I pulled the starter out of the kegerator in order to decant, the damn thing was fermenting away in my kegerator! Had a krausen and most of the yeast was still in suspension.
~38*F should have been cold enough to drop the yeast, no? Or do you need to get it colder than that to drop a lager yeast out of suspension?
My plan for a starter was a 2L starter, crashed and decanted, and stepped up to a 5L starter, which would then be crashed and decanted. Everything seemed to go OK. I crashed and decanted the 2L, boiled up 5L of starter wort and added the yeast from the first step to it. The 5L ran for 18 hours on the stir plate. I then placed it in my kegerator at ~38*F and crashed it for 22 hours or so.
Here's my problem - when I pulled the starter out of the kegerator in order to decant, the damn thing was fermenting away in my kegerator! Had a krausen and most of the yeast was still in suspension.
~38*F should have been cold enough to drop the yeast, no? Or do you need to get it colder than that to drop a lager yeast out of suspension?