My apologies - but yes you do want to make sure that the beer is in active fermentation before you move it to the recommended temperature. Basically as soon as the airlock is actively bubbling and head just starts to form (some 12-36 hours after pitching depending on your starter size).
I personally recommend a fairly large starter for lagers, as it reduces your startup time.
A simple lager profile might look like this:
- Pitch yeast at room temperature, leave it there until you have active fermentation.
- Move it to optimal fermentation temperature as recommended for particular yeast strain. Ferment in primary for 7-10 days.
- Move to secondary - ferment for another 2-3 weeks (or longer!), still at cold temperature. If you can, the temperature is often dropped 10 degrees or more below the active fermentation for this stage (don't freeze it of course!).
- Bottle or keg it. If you bottle, you can leave it at room temperature for a week or two to properly carbonate before again cold storing it.
Some people also add a "Diacetyl rest" to increase the butterscotch/butter flavor in the beer (desirable in some cases). To do this, allow the lager to warm to ~60F for one day before you move it from the primary to secondary.
Cheers!
Brad