Question on First Lager

I made my first lager yesterday (got a temp controller for Christmas) and I am unsure on what temp to start the fermentation process. I am using the American Lager yeast from White Labs and on the vial it stated to start the fermentation at 70. I let it sit overnight at 70 (fermentation has not started) but I am wondering if I should let the fermentation start at the lagering temp of 45 as I have read here on the boards?

Hopefully you made a big starter and aerated well. That's too warm, I would start cooling it down to around 50-52f. I always pitch my yeast at or a tad below fermentation temps, which for that yeast is 50-55f. Also, lagering temps are different from fermentation temps, you will lager after fermentation is complete.


_

Guy at the local brew store said I could pitch it direct. Will that be a problem? The OG wasn't too high so I didn't think I needed a starter? What should my next step be? I just put it in the freezer at 50.

I found this website very helpful when I was starting out with lagers:

Making Lagers - Mayfair Court Brewhouse

Unless you made a 2 gallon batch, you severely underpitched. What was the og and batch size? Lagers require large amounts of yeast, you will most likely end up with a high fg and some off flavors. You could pitch another vial of yeast.
Recipe would help as well.

_

OG was 1.06 for a 4.5 gallon batch. The vial said it was for a 5 gallon batch, why would I have under pitched? I appreciate all the help!

The vial also said to pitch at 70f . The simple fact is, to make a good lager you have to pitch a large amount of healthy yeast. Mr. Malty.com has a calculator for yeast pitching. You are welcome to let this batch ride it out, and hopefully the results are acceptable, I would pitch another vial asap, especially with a og of .060

I'm off to town, i'm sure someone else can state my case more eloquently than I can.


_

True! I assume if I add another vial I will need to make a starter?

jhuff0120 said:

True! I assume if I add another vial I will need to make a starter?

Click to expand...

It's a little late at this point, another vial should help a lot. Don't get frustrated, lagers require a little more attention than ales, but the results are fantastic if done properly.

As an example, I just brewed a Baltic Porter, the og was .075. I didn't want to take the time to step up starters, so I pitched 2 2278 check pils lager yeast packs into a half gallon starter wort. The beer went down to .014 in 5 days. That would have never happened without a starter and good aeration.


_

Some simple rules of thumb for regular gravity lagers are pitch a starter of 10%-20% the total volume (10-15 million cells per milliliter of wort) and pitch just below the fermentation temp. Let fermentation warm it up and when fermentation slows don't let it cool down. Instead warm it up.