starter for a pilsner

[twilliams1223]

Getting ready to try my first pilsner. My question. Do you do the starter at the lower tempature or at room tempature

[Spicoli]

Room temp. Even whe you pitch the starter stay at room temp until you see activety, them turn it down. Good luck.

[Beerbilly]

Is this procedure pretty standard with all lagers?

[danno]

yep...

[Quin]

As I understand it, lower temp by 10° every 12 hours until you reach optimum temperature range of yeast.

Raise to room temp at 2/3 of the way to FG for 2 or 3 days

After fermentation is complete, transfer to secondary and lager at 32-40° for 3-4 weeks (if you can wait that long).

I'm brewing my first lager also (Czech pilsner), so I would be inteested to hear other's comments as well.

[takhsh]

I will tell you what I do.
First, I have two fridges. One is set at 50 F that I ferment the lager in it. The other is set at 35F I I lager the beer in it. In there also lives the beer that I serve.
After fermenting the beer two or three weeks in the 50 F fridge, I transfer to a secondary fermenter. In there it stays for another two weeks. At that time, I tranfer to a keg that goes into 35 F fridge.
At the time of kegging the previous beer, I am brewing a new batch. After boiling, I cool the wort to as low temp as I can. I have an imersion cooler, but in summer time I also use iced water to precool the cooling water. The new wort goes into the empty secondary fermenter that is not emptied completely. It has about one cup of yeast residue from the previous beer. The fermenter goes buck into the 50F fridge as a primary fermenter, and it bubbles in les than two hours.

Once (or twice a year) I make a starter and start all over. The starter starts at room temperature. I do not cool it. Once it has a good head, I use it to a new batch.
For Pilser lager, I found that a decoction mashing improves the beer flavor tremendously!