Lager Yeast - Urgent reply needed - doing it now!!

[leigh1919]

Hi -

Am currently steeping some grains and wondering wether it's better to pitch lager yeast (S-23) directly into cooling wort or to make a starter?

[Gurgeh]

if you're 'doing it now' then it doesn't make a scrap of difference. pitch when wort is cooled.

[leigh1919]

Hi mate - Im about 20 mins off the end of the boil....was thinking would be best to cool to temp and then direclty pitch dry?

[ADDLED]

Its academic since youve already done it, but what Gurgeh means is its too late to make up a starter; they can take anything from hours to a day or two.

[mysterio]

Pitching dry yeast directly into cooled wort has worked whenever i've done it (which is many times). Ideally, you should rehydrate yeast in boiled and cooled water 10x the yeast weight (ie. 12g in 120ml water). This will reduce the effects of osmotic shock and ensure you are pitching the largest amount of viable cells into the beer. We get away with directly pitching because a dried yeast packet contains a very large number of healthy cells as it is.

[leigh1919]

for the record, it seems to have gone ok - see brewdays!