California Common Beer

I brewed a California Common last night. I pitched at 74 degrees. Currently it is at 70 degrees. I am only 12 hours in so I am still waiting for fermentation to show signs of activity.

My question.... should I leave it at 70-75 until it shows signs, and then drop to roughly 60-62?

I pitched at 70-75 because that what the label said was the optimal pitching temperature for that yeast.

White Labs - WLP810

I almost always try to pitch at fermentation temps (60-62) to avoid potential off-flavors. Did you make a starter?

I didn't make a starter. And the fermentation still is not showing signs of life. It is roughly now 29 hours into the primary.

The yeast package called for a warmer pitch so that is what I was following. It is my understanding that the California Lager yeasts are a bit different than other lager yeasts.

I wouldn't touch it until 72 hours. This your first time using a lager yeast? I'm using the wy2112 eq of this, and it was slower to start than my prev ale yeast batches.

The instructions on the vial are terrible- they instruct you to pitch too warm to try to compensate for underpitching. (One vial is underpitching by quite a bit).

A good way to ferment any beer, ale or lager (or hybrid!) is to make a starter or use two or three vials, and pitch at just under the desired fermentation temperature. That produces the best conditions for the yeast, and doesn't produce off flavors such as esters.

I've never kept a common above 62 degrees with that yeast strain, so I'm not sure what to expect. I'd definitely check the SG and see if it's moved at all, and get it to the correct temperature ASAP.

Go ahead and cool it down under 65*. You definitely under-pitched, but you should be alright. Just give it another day, and you'll see fermentation start. I've used the WLP810/2112 yeast a number of times. Keep it in the low-mid 60s, and you'll be fine. This yeast does work fairly slow though, so don't be surprised if it takes 2-3 weeks to hit FG.

Thanks for the help guys. I will definitely adjust my method next time. Until then I am going to move this to the basement and forget it for awhile.