need help

my first try at a lager has been unsucessfull; i tried an oktoberfest using superior lager yeast (dry) from midwest supplies. I pitched the yeast below 80 degrees and then put the carboy in my fridge and set the temp on 45...its been 3 days now and....NOTHING. before i pitched the yeast, i put the dry yeast in about 1 1/2 cups of wort to rehydrate it...was this a mistake? what should i do now? im about to call up midwest and have them ship me some more yeast overnight? do i need to use the same yeast? should i rack the beer into another 6.5 gallon carboy and start over?? what would you do...thanks

PAM

I doubt sending you more yeast will help, dry yeast is pretty hardy and it's unlikely the yeast is the problem. One factor is that lagering occurs at cold temperatures, so everything takes longer. A lager could need to ferment for a month instead of a week, depending on the yeast and the temperature.

I think your big problem, however, is that you're too cold. I've heard that most dry lager yeasts aren't really true lager yeasts, not sure if that's the case with this one or not, but the stats for the superior say it works better at higher temperatures. I've found a few references to the fact that below 50 it won't do anything at all, and that it's meant to be fermented in the upper 50's to lower 60's. I'd recommend either getting a vial of liquid lager yeast, or bumping the fermentation temperature up to around 60 degrees.