California Common

Brewed a California common (steam beer) last weekend. I pitched with wyeast California lager (2112 I think) and have it at 58F. Still no sign of activity. Is it too cold?

did you make a starter? How big of a batch and OG? Could be you underpitched or maybe the lid/bung isn't in tight, unless you're seeing no krausen at all then yes something is wrong

Just because you didn't see signs of the fermentation doesn't mean it didn't happen. Gravity readings are your best friend during fermentation.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/no-visible-signs-yeast-activity-132072/

No starter, pitched 200Bn. OG 1.040. Had small krausen for first 12 hours then nothing. After 4 days I racked off the cake and re pitched with another 200. Batch size of 8gal

It could easily be finished in a couple of days at 58F from 1.040. Mine took 3 days or so from 1.048 at a controlled 60F. If you got a krausen, I'd say it was now done, and you should take a gravity reading to confirm this.

However, 200b cells in an 8gal batch is a bit too few for this yeast (you should use lager pitch rates I think, as it's fundamentally a lager yeast). Taste the gravity sample for diacetyl, and do a D-rest if you taste some.