The Brewing Begins!

This morning I set the temperature on my fermentation chamber (a converted old fridge) to 20^oC and moved in the sachet of live yeast from storage at 4^oC. This will allow the yeast half a day to come up to working temperature and prevent the little cells getting temperature shock when I activate them by adding some malt sugar!

Later on, I will prepare a starter culture and add the yeast. Over the next few hours, the yeast should multiply in the starter wort until I have a mega thick slurry of live yeast ready to pitch into my lager.
You need more yeast for lager than ale as the fermentation occurs at a lower temperature and it takes more time to the yeast to establish itself.
Although I'll be pitching the yeast at 20^oC, once fermentation has started, I'll lower the temperature down to about 12^oC.
The yeast strain I'm using is Wyeast 2007, Pilsen Lager, similar to those used in Budvar and Staropramen Lager.
..............................................More later!