Starter for lager

[Marcarm]

I've placed an order from Geterbrewed for, amongst other things, ingredients to make a lager. I have ordered some lager yeast, but the last time I tried to make a lager I horrendously underpitched and things went very wrong. This time I'm determined to get it right.

I have ordered some DME to make a starter, but this will be the first time I've done this so just wanted to get the procedure down in my head. Unfortunately for me I learn by doing, but want to avoid any mistakes.

I'm going to follow these steps (23l batch):

1l water to 100g DME to make a wort approx 1.040.
Boil for 15 minutes
Cool to pitching temp
Pitch yeast and ferment at ~20 degrees?
When fermentation is complete, pour away the 'beer' leaving only the yeast behind
Pitch this into the lager

My questions:
1) How do I know what size starter I need? Can I make any size starter from the pack of yeast I've ordered? I've looked on Mr.Malty but not sure what I'm looking at.
2) Can I make a larger starter just by changing the quantity of water and DME? If so, what is the advantage/disadvantage of doing this?
3) Do I ferment the starter at the same temp as I'm planning to ferment the actual brew? Recommended temp is 9-13 degrees
4) Any other tips/advice for me?

 

[LarryF]

Couldn't you use 500ml of water, 50g of DME, pitch the yeast when cool and just add the lot into the FV? I'm sure it'll go off very nicely. This is from coming from someone who's only ever re-pitched from trub two or three times.

 

[Marcarm]

I don't know!! I'm reading about it from different sources but getting different advice depending on where I look!

I need to get it right as some of the lager is going into a mini keg for by brother in law for Xmas, so don't want to have to chuck it down the drain!

 

[LarryF]

Just go with your gut, brew what what you'd want to drink and the rest of it will fall into place.

 

[Marcarm]

Mr. Malty says I need 409bill cells for the lager, and the yeast apparently has 100bill cells in it. So I need to increase the cells by at least 4X as a minimum.

PS, how's the pot working out for you? Made the move into the dark side yet?

 

[LarryF]

I have the pot, and you graciously chucked the bag in but no dark side yet, it's on the cards but I'm really enjoying the kits so far, with bumping the ABV (you can take the kid out of the Council estate but ........) and the hop additions and what I'm picking up in the Tesco Sales and 35p a pint, I'm really enjoying myself. So for the moment I'm sticking with the kits but I've only been brewing since January so I'm easily impressed. But then again, I didn't grab a 21L pot and bag for a rock bottom price for nothing. I missed the wort chiller you were selling but on reflection I like the idea of the overnight cool, MQ's been giving good reports on that and I think I'm sold. We'll see how it goes but for the moment but I'm loving what I'm doing, when I don't, then I guess it's the dark side here I come, and when I do.........

 

[Marcarm]

You must take pics of your brewday when you make it over.

I've had no issues at all with an overnight cool, I got given loads of bottles and they came in a large plastic box, so now I stand the FV in that and add cold water. I'm ready to pitch in about 5 hours now which is a huge improvement.

The main thing is that you are enjoying what you are making, and having fun while doing it. I love my brewdays and look forward to the whole process, from recipe creation to going shopping for the ingredients! Luckily I have a micro brewery near me that I can get grain/hops from without paying delivery charges so it makes it a lot cheaper.

 

[MyQul]

I quite like this calculator as it has a starter facility plus overbuild too. I only use mr malty calc for dried yeast

http://www.brewunited.com/yeast_calculator.php