Wyeast 2206 Bavarian Lager - Slow Starter?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Roz762

Active Member
Joined
Jun 6, 2010
Messages
39
Reaction score
0
Location
Richardson
Hey Guys,

I've got a situation with wyeast 2206 bavarian lager. I brewed a bock over the weekend and realized that after 72hrs at room temp, that I may have needed to pitch a starter. I dumped that beer and bought new ingredients and a new pack of 2206 and smacked it 36 hrs ago. I made the starter today and when I looked at the pack, it had swelled a little but not much. Still no activity on the airlock, which im not too worried about yet. I made an ale started off the same wort and its going nuts! I'm just curious if I got a bad batch of yeast. They all had the same mfg date of 09June10.

To yalls knowledge, is 2206 a slow starter? Has anyone else had issues with 2206?

Roz
 
I made a starter with Wyeast 2278 Czech Pils on Friday the 18th planning to brew on the 20th. I saw no action in the starter until the 21st (Monday). I added yeast nutrient and O2 before adding the yeast to the flask. The starter is on a stir plate.

I smacked the pack and it sat for at least 6 hours before pitching and the pack was barely puffy. I have had no problems with Wyeast and as this is my firsy lager after brewing 35 or so ales, I'm at a loss.

I'm going to let the starter go until Saturday and if there is nothing there, I guess I have to buy a new pack.
 
I have never had any problems with wyeast 2206 until this spring when my starter was very slow to take off. It eventually took off and the beer seemed to turn out ok except it finished higher than I expected (1.058 down to 1.017).
 
I just finished up D-rest using this yeast. My OG was 1.052 and it didn't really begin bubbling once every 10 seconds or so until day 3. I pitched cool. I got to FG of 1.015 on day 8.

I also did a step up starter, and even pitched onto a two-day old starter so the yeast was already active when I pitched.
 
Sounds to me like wyeast needs to figure something out.

Did the smack pack swell?

I did a batch last year with either this or Munich Lager, and the pack didn't swell, nor did it start. I find when the date is over 2 months on lager yeast they take friggin forever to get going.
 
My smackpack demonstrated very little swelling. It was quite fresh - 1 or 2 months old. I made a gallon starter and stepped it up to 5 gallons for a 30 gallon batch of pilsener so I may have underpitched. I harvested the yeast and used it for a vienna lager. I am curious to see the FG of the vienna as I pitched more than enough yeast.
 
How big was the starter you made for the beer?

Thats just it. I am talking about the starter. I havent pitched it into the brew. I havent even done the brew. The yeast doesnt even want to get going in a starter.

And....

Its not even a month old. This is my third pack of 2206 that is doing the exact same thing, all have a mfg date of June 2010. It sounds to me like I'm not the only one either.
 
Thats just it. I am talking about the starter. I havent pitched it into the brew. I havent even done the brew. The yeast doesnt even want to get going in a starter.

And....

Its not even a month old. This is my third pack of 2206 that is doing the exact same thing, all have a mfg date of June 2010. It sounds to me like I'm not the only one either.

How do you know it is not starting?
 
I pitched 4 packs of 2206 with a May manufacturing date and my octoberfest never started. Needless to say I was pissed. I know it's not the way to go about it, but I didn't have time for a starter and at least pitched somewhat equivalent yeast. 4+ days and nothing. Threw in some Saflager 34/70...action in a few hours. I say it's the packs fault.
 
I found this thread when searching to see if it's normal that my starter from Wyeast 2206 is just barely starting to show activity 3 days after pitching. When the smack pack didn't swell after 7-8 hours that had me a little worried, but I figured since I was making a starter anyway it might be okay. On one hand it's good to see that I'm not the only one having problems, but a bummer that there might be problems w/ recent packs of this yeast from Wyeast since I was considering buying another pack and redoing my starter.

I guess I'll give my starter a little more time to crank up and go, and hopefully nothing funky has started growing in their while the yeast have been lagging.
 
I used this yeast once before on my first lager... a Marzen style. Took forever to start... more than a week. I was a little intimidated about contamination and starters, so rather than step up to the plate properly this round, I figured I'd aerate like a champ, and double up on the smack packs.

That was last weekend. First signs of life from the airlock was last night. Gravity reading on Thursday this week showed some minor signs of life (couple of points in the right direction).

Lesson learned... 2206 may indeed be a slow starter, but I'm cold pitching a starter from now on. Let's hope my current batch does ok after a 6 day lag.
 
Oh man, this is worrisome. I just bought two packs of 2206 (one of which has a mfg date in June) for a pils I'm brewing this weekend. Gonna make a 2l starter with them. I just smacked the packs. Now I'm playing wait-and-see.
 
Yeah, I ended up going with a different yeast. Just try the starter and be patient. Let me know how it turns out.
 
I know I'm a little late to the party but I've also experienced the seemingly forever ramp up time of 2206. I had a pack of 2206 that had been in the fridge for about 5 months. Smacked it and after two days there was NO swelling. I figured it was dead but just left it on the counter. Finally, after about 5 days it started to swell, and after 7 days the pack was tight. I ramped it up from there and it's now fermenting 10 gallons.
 
Wyeast 2206 Bavarian Lager- I had the exact same problem with my first slap pack that was dated 09June10.My local homebrew store gave me a new slap pack and that one took off but it did take 2 days to start bubbling.
 
A little follow-up: Of my two packs, one (5 mos. old) didn't swell at all. The other (3 mos. old) swelled only a little. I took the un-swelled one back to my LHBS and they replaced it. I pitched both packs into a 2 l starter on a stir plate. It wasn't the most active, vigorous starter I've ever made, but the yeast did go to work. I stuck the starter in the fridge for a day to drop it bright and then decanted the starter beer. After brewing, I added about 1 l of my prepared wort (a pils) to the starter flask to wake the yeasties up before pitching. The yeast showed good signs of life. After about 12 hours, I pitched this mini-starter into the main wort at a temp of 50F. Fermentation picked-up quickly and I had a nice krausen in under 24 hours. The fermentation went very well and was complete in 14 days. Target attenuation was reached.

So, while this yeast is not the most vigorous starter, it did perform well. The beer is still conditioning, but the samples taste good. No obvious bad yeast flavors. I repitched the rinsed yeast cake from the pils into an oktoberfest and the yeast are performing very strong, without a hint of a slow start (of course this was a gross over-pitch...).
 
I got a fresh pack of this yeast yesterday and pitched in a 3L starter, OG 1.035. Today, 18 hours later, I can see a decent kraeusen and a visible layer of yeast in the bottom. There was no activity in the airlock though, so I wonder if it has already peaked and I missed it? I don't plan to pitch in my lager wort until yeast activity in the starter has ceased, so how much longer should I wait until pitching?
 
I have a dunkel on this right now. The pack was 2 months old and did not swell. The first starter took longer than usual to get going, about 24 hours. My beer has been on this for about 6 days now, and it is at a 1.038(1.056 og), which is bit slower than usual compared to other lagers I have made. So far it has been a consistently slow yeast. It seems to be getting its job done though, Im not worried.
 
Having similar issues now with the starter. 5 week old yeast package that I put on the stir plate Thursday around 2pm is just starting to get to work now 9am Saturday. When I go to step it up I'll post back if it kicks off faster for the 2nd generation.
 
I use WL version of the yeast and have never add it not take off within 12 hrs using a starter. Hell I just made a big baltic porter using it had no joke already had an inch and a half of krausen going in 4 hours and it was bubbling like crazy, 12 hrs a blow off was required. Granted I did pitch it on to a massive yeast cake.
 
It finally finished Monday night/Tuesday Morning. Still waiting for the ***** to floc so I can pour on the next step of the starter.
 
Sorry forgot to update, I pitched the yeast from the first starter into another similar 2.5L starter and it took off in a matter of hours and finished in less than 12 hours. I pitched the settled yeast this morning into 1.048 wort at 46 degrees at 7:30am, going to go check on it tomorrow to see if the party is getting started.
 
~48 hours and it's forming a krausen now, has maybe a 1/3 of the top covered in a thin layer (less than an inch). So it might just be the yeast are sensitive to warmth or transit times since the first starter took forever, but everything after is moving right along.
 
I'm on day 2 of the D-rest. Gravity before D-rest was 1.024, gravity as of today was down to 1.015. Saturday I'm transferring for lagering. So far the yeast has done it's job other than taking forever in the first starter.
 
I also had issues with my 2206, it was plain lazy and had a horrible sulfur smell that just did not go away
 
I also had issues with my 2206, it was plain lazy and had a horrible sulfur smell that just did not go away

I didn't get any sulfur at all which is really strange since all of my other lagers have had between slight to a holy crap Fat Bastard just left a floater.
 
Thought I'd chime in here and hopefully allay some concerns. I bought a six month old pack at a discount. The pack didn't swell much and the krausen was certainly nothing to write home about, but it was working after a few hours. So much so that I had a near mishap the first time I went to give it a shake. Bottom line, even though it doesn't look like it's working, the yeast are doing what they've been bred to do. I've stepped this up three times already and each time it's started to floc out around the 48 hour mark. I have my starter at 70* and I'm wondering if the fellow having problems with his starter was trying to get it going at lager temps?

How'd everything work out for you, Mr. Swampass?
 
i just bought this yeast today. got it home and smacked it. within an hour it started to swell and 2.5 hours its quite swollen at room temp (at 18-21C - 64-69F) the manufacturing date is dec 27 and it is now january 7th. not sure if the age of the yeast is the cause of the fast start (considering most people that have noticed a slow start have had yeast over a month old and some quite older). plan to pitch it to a 3L starter. i will update on the how the starter and the batch takes once i pitch
 
I pitched the 2206 48 hours ago in a maibock, OG 1.064, did not use a starter. The package did not swell at all before I pitched it about 2 hours after I smacked it. I thought that was unusual since I am used to their American Ale yeast which will swell the pack in an hour and show bubbling in the airlock within 12 hours.

This is my first time using this yeast although not my first lager. I pitched it at 65 degrees, and it is currently sitting at about 65 while I wait to see any action in the airlock. So far I see no bubbling. After 48 hours of no visible activity I took another reading and the gravity is now 1.060, so it seems that something is happening but not much and not very fast.

So the question is, would you start cooling it down to 45-50 degrees now or wait for more visible signs of activity? I'm afraid if I start cooling it now, fermentation will stall. Or should I go get more yeast and make a starter and re-pitch?
 
i like to pitch my starter a little warm then wait about 12 hours before i move it into my lagering fridge. other people will say to pitch cold. but i find pitching warm ensures a vigorous start and cuts down lag.
 
Just resurrecting this thread to see if anyone is using Wyeast 2206 and seeing the same behaviour as above? I am relaxing. I'm not worrying. Not drinking a home brew, a little early (liar - but I am working). Just curious. This is my second lager and the first one took off in a "normal" time. This one is almost in 3 days and I see nothing. I'm going to leave it though. I know I could open the bucket and check the gravity but it's not like I need the bucket so opening it now seems like an unnecessary risk. If I see nothing after another day or two, then I will think about it.

OG = 1050
Pitched at about 60 F
Sitting in trash can of water which is about 55 F (no fermometer on this bucket)
 
Mine started after about 3 days. But I kept it at around 70 degrees until it did. If using this yeast you should probably use a starter and pitch at a higher temp. Also be sure and give it a good diacetyl rest before the yeast is completely done. I gave it 3 days at 60 degrees after the primary and still got diacetyl
 
Mine started after about 3 days. But I kept it at around 70 degrees until it did. If using this yeast you should probably use a starter and pitch at a higher temp. Also be sure and give it a good diacetyl rest before the yeast is completely done. I gave it 3 days at 60 degrees after the primary and still got diacetyl

Curiosity got the better of me and I checked the SG this morning. 1026 so down 24 points - fermentation is definitely underway. The wort temperature is also at 63 F compared with the 56 F water it's sitting in so I will add more ice to that later. I have a better idea for a swamp cooler but that will need to wait until my next lager.

I haven't seen any visible signs of fermentation so I suspect that I have a leaky bucket lid which is entirely possible since I drilled an extra hole in it for a thermowell. I didn't use the thermowell because I made it out of copper instead of SS. I thought I sealed up the hole good but I guess not good enough. I resealed it this morning and I am going to replace my blow off tube with an airlock. Perhaps that will give me the visual reassurance that I so desperately want. lol.
 
When I racked a different brew to a secondary I freed up another bucket. I took the lid from that, cleaned it, sanitized it and put it on the other bucket. Now I have airlock activity. Of course I knew there was fermentation going on before that but it's nice to have those little reassuring bubbles AND now I know that I have either screwed up the other lid completely or I need to use a better method of blocking the extra hole until I get my SS tubing for my thermowell.
 
Mine took three days to start. I fermented in mid to high 40s 70% of the way. I am on week three of fermentation still with diacetyl and airlock activity after a week of rest in the high 60s. This yeast is slooooowwwww. A lesson in patience.
 
Hi, I just brew a Bavarian Dopplebock (O.G=1.080) I pitch 2 smackpacks of wyeast 2206 @ 68ºF 18 hours ago (no starter, just the 2 packs), still no activity.
One of the packs swell just a bit (almost nothing) and the other.. let say ½ way swell, the 2 of them were 2 month old and were smacked 10hours before pitching.
In the wort I threw several yeast nutrients: 1 capsule of “BrewVint Yeast Fuel”, 1/2tsp of “Wyeast Beer Nutrient” and about 2tsp of a yeast energizer based on Di-ammonium phosphate, Springcell yeast hulls, vitamins, and magnesium sulphate.
All that because I read this yeast was slow, but still nothing happening yet.
Any suggestion? Besides being XTREMELY patient.
 
Wow. A lot of people massively under-pitching and fermenting warm with crude temperature control.

Should re-name this the "How to make a ****ty lager" thread.
 
Back
Top