BackAlleyBrewingCo
Well-Known Member
Hi all,
I started brewing a Dortmunder Export on Sunday (6/28) with an SG of 1.050. I rehydrated 2 packs of Saflager S-23 at 40* F. I thought I would be able to get the wort down to my target pitching temperature of 44* using a pre-chiller in a bucket of ice, but I wasn't able to get close to that temp. So I put the wort in my lagering fridge and put the yeast in the regular fridge. Overnight the wort cooled down to 44*, so I let the yeast warm up for about 15 minutes, shook it up and pitched it. Over the last couple of days I've raised the temp to 50*, but I've seen no fermentation activity at all. This morning (72 hours after pitching the yeast) there was still no visible activity; gravity of the beer is 1.047 so at least there's a little bit of something going on. I shook the beer up to aerate a bit, and put it back in the fridge. This evening there's still nothing visible happening. I kept the beer from the gravity reading in a separate jar at room temp to see what the yeast does when it's warmer, but that sample isn't doing anything 12 hours later.
Should I be concerned? I wanted to pitch at the lower temp to avoid diacetyl, but I suspect I screwed up with the yeast by not rehydrating at a warmer temp then cooling. I'm guessing that the answer will be "give it time, RDWHAHB" but I thought I'd ask in case there's something else I should be doing.
I started brewing a Dortmunder Export on Sunday (6/28) with an SG of 1.050. I rehydrated 2 packs of Saflager S-23 at 40* F. I thought I would be able to get the wort down to my target pitching temperature of 44* using a pre-chiller in a bucket of ice, but I wasn't able to get close to that temp. So I put the wort in my lagering fridge and put the yeast in the regular fridge. Overnight the wort cooled down to 44*, so I let the yeast warm up for about 15 minutes, shook it up and pitched it. Over the last couple of days I've raised the temp to 50*, but I've seen no fermentation activity at all. This morning (72 hours after pitching the yeast) there was still no visible activity; gravity of the beer is 1.047 so at least there's a little bit of something going on. I shook the beer up to aerate a bit, and put it back in the fridge. This evening there's still nothing visible happening. I kept the beer from the gravity reading in a separate jar at room temp to see what the yeast does when it's warmer, but that sample isn't doing anything 12 hours later.
Should I be concerned? I wanted to pitch at the lower temp to avoid diacetyl, but I suspect I screwed up with the yeast by not rehydrating at a warmer temp then cooling. I'm guessing that the answer will be "give it time, RDWHAHB" but I thought I'd ask in case there's something else I should be doing.