I'm having an internal crisis over my two batches of lager beer I just brewed this weekend. One has almost been in the primary for 72 hours and the other is has been in for 48. Both batches started out bubbling after 18 hours and now they both are not doing a thing except emit a lovely rotten egg smell. Now I understand from all the reading I have done in books and on this forum that this is normal for lagers especially the rotten egg smell.
However, I did read that this could be the result of yeast cells that still haven't fully adapted to the wort or it was an inactive or bad strain of yeast cells and I may have to pitch more yeast. Now here's the dilemma...I live on an island that has no breweries or brewery stores and all my supplies come from Ozark, Missouri and could take up to ten days. If I need to pitch more yeast...what do I do??
Should I just wait until it's time to bottle and let it condition for a while or try to pitch more yeast. The two lagers are:
German Oktoberfest
1 package crystal malted grains
1 package of light, amber, and wheat dry malt extract and hallertauer bittering hops
1 Irish Moss
1 package hersbrucker hop pellets
1 package tettnanger hop pellets
1 package lager yeast
Bavarian Bock
1 package crystal, chocolate and victory malted grains
1 package of light dry malt extract and hallertauer bittering hops
1 Irish Moss
1 package saaz and tettnanger hops
1 package lager yeast
The best way to answer those questions is with a specific gravity reading, so you know if the yeast has fermented the expected amount of sugar. Check the attenuation rate for your yeast strains and compare that percentage to the amount of change in original gravity vs. current gravity.
If you don't have a hydrometer just let them sit- can't really hurt anything, right?
If you're using dry yeast, go ahead and order an extra packet or 3 with your next batch of ingredients. It's easy to keep and very handy in a pinch.
Given your situation, I'd have a few packets of Nottingham and a few of Saflager in the fridge. They're good for a year or more.
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The temperature in the closet is 68-70 degrees. Should I have ordered different yeast to accomidate for the slightly warmer temperatures(outside temp never dips below 78 here). If I take a SG reading this early won't that run the risk of contaminating the batch? Thank you again for your replies
Okay here is another question. Do I still have a chance order ale yeast and pitch into the worts that have already a lager yeast in them...is that possible? Or do I still have time to find a refrigerator that I can store my two batches in and does any one use a deep freezer with a temperature control device to help keep the wort from freezing? Thanks again your inputs are helping tremendously.
Still Concerned
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