Lager Yeast ?

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karljrberno

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Ive read up a little on this topic , but however im freeking out because I just made my first lager this past sat night 5/14/2011 .


wort
was cool to room temp at about 11:00pm 70deg-f . I used a 2042 Danish Lager yeast (WYEAST) Smack pack .

I let the yeast swell in the pack and pitched it in the wort the same temp as the yeast .

Then I put it directly into the fridge ...... I have not seen any fermentation bubbling in the air lock : ? Did I kill my yeast by putting it in my wort then tranzfering it stright to the fridge ?

Or is it just taking a long time to start to feed ?

It has been about 35hours :confused:

Usaly my warm fermentation starts on ale styles starts prity quick .
 
48F is at the low end of the range, but it is fine! Pitching Lager yeast warm is a method recommended by some to ensure that you get fermentation going, but I think that most experienced brewers pitch at fermenting temps to avoid off flavors.
 
I pitch mine at 43 then walk it up to 48 degrees. You just have to be patient. It will take me 3 days to see much of anything.
 
Ok I did the cell#caculater , It says 340billon or so , I only pitch a 100bilion ,

SO CAN I JUSAT ADD 3 more packs and make it 400billion ?

Now that my wort is in fridge and cold can I just let the liquid yeast get to the same temp and pitch it cold ?

Can I smack the (smack pack of yeast) And leave it in cold conditions as it swells ?
 
Ok I did the cell#caculater , It says 340billon or so , I only pitch a 100bilion ,

SO CAN I JUSAT ADD 3 more packs and make it 400billion ?

Now that my wort is in fridge and cold can I just let the liquid yeast get to the same temp and pitch it cold ?

Can I smack the (smack pack of yeast) And leave it in cold conditions as it swells ?

Another three packs makes it a pretty expensive batch but it's your money so go ahead if you like. Go ahead and smack your packs cold; they might not swell and for that matter the smacking just adds yeast nutrient as far as I know. I would consider giving your wort a nice big stir for aeration (I use a drill-mounted "wine whip" that works great) to help the yeast out as well.

Also might hold on to see what Yooper or someone else who knows a lot more than I do has to say! Maybe their advice will be better. But for next time, a starter is a must.
 
+1 on the starter being essential for a lager

Also, on a recent Jamil show he talked about not wanting to drop the temps during active fermentation. He is a proponent of starting lower than target then raising temps to target. The temperature rise helps kick start the yeast while a drop shocks them. Since you dropped the temp before they even got started it probably is not a huge facotr but could explain some of the delay.
 
Soooo It will work off the 1 pack of 100billon , But I will not get all the way down to my FG ???

Or is it that it will take longer to acumulate mor yeast cells for the full fermentation ???
 
Soooo It will work off the 1 pack of 100billon , But I will not get all the way down to my FG ???

Or is it that it will take longer to acumulate mor yeast cells for the full fermentation ???

it might take another few days, and you might have some extra esthers* produced, but you should be fine as is. It's a good idea to use proper pitching rates in the future, but this one will be ok.

*you might not even notice, depending on how sensitive your palate is.
 
I'll be very interested in how this goes for you. Please keep us updated on fermentation. I've had really bad luck with the lagers I've underpitched.
 
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