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[MtnBrewer]

This FAQ entry came from a thread by chils on the main board: https://www.brews-br...-chilling-woes/ The OP is below but the thread contains good discussion as well.I developed this for lagers but it can be used to completely eliminate making starters for ales. JP used this method and eliminated his lager starter but I haven't done that yet.Ok, now for something completely different. This is something I've been working on for a couple of years to suit my needs and eliminate problems I had with:1. Chilling wort to fermentation temps--Hated using a pre-chiller2. Proper yeast starter sizes for lagers--big starters are a waste of $$a. Using 2 packs of dry yeast for a lager--now I use 13. Harvesting clean yeast--I hate washing yeast4. Occasional off-flavors related to poor yeast performanceI started doing this as a way to brew more lagers. The above problems made it too much of a PITA for me to do them often. Now, everything I brew is a lager--even my hoppy ale styles.For lagers I always make a 2qt stirplate starter a week before brewday and chill and decant it.What I do is to chill my wort on brewday as far as my immersion chiller will take it--usually 60-75F depending on time of year. Then pour 1 gallon in a glass jar and ice bath it to pitching temps. Pitch the starter to the gallon, add a little DAP and nutrient and aerate well. I stir like hell.Place the fermenter with the unpitched wort in the chamber. Place the gallon starter on top of it. Put my temp controller probe on the starter jar and cover with foam, set it to ferm temps.The next evening ~30hrs later, the wort will be at ferm temps and the starter will be done or rocking balls-out. The wort will have settled and be crystal clear. Rack off the compacted trub into a clean fermenter, aerate fully and pour the starter beer into it.It will ferment out in a few days--I usually have 3-4 day lager ferments at 50F. Your beer will have no trub in the bottom of the fermenter b/c you racked off of it already. You will have very clean yeast and lots of it. I harvest 360ml from a primary on the first gen--400+ ml with harvests.If you are using a pitch rate calculator remember to reduce your batch size by 1 gallon--you already fermented 1 as your starter. I use the harvested yeast only with the next drauflassen starter. The only starters I ever make anymore is when starting a new pack of liquid yeast.Fermenter post-ferment 6 gallons with 1 pack of W34/70 dry yeast in the drauflassen starterSwished a bottled water in the bucket and poured it directly into jars. Note NO trub settlingA couple hours laterOvernightAnother harvest from a batch with repitched yeast