dcunitedfan
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Question for the lager brewers out there:
I have had problems with several recent lager batches with fermentation either starting later than normal (I like to see lagers start bubbling about 12 hrs after pitching) or not at all (forcing a quick use of dry yeast). I use single Wyeast Activator packs, no starter, and typically smack the pack about 6 hours before pitching. So the yeast sits at room temp all that time (60s to 70s depending on season) and then goes into wort that's usually in the low 70s at pitch time.
This is where the trouble starts I think - I then put the carboy in a temp controlled freezer and immediately set it for a lager fermentation temperature, say 50F. If I do the trick of taping the temp sensor probe to the carboy, presumably that causes the beer to chill that much faster, and that does seem to align with when I have longer lag times.
I'm wondering if I'm stressing the yeast by changing temps that fast. If I had a better chilling process, I'd chill the wort to 50F before pitching, and then also put the smack pack in a 50F environment between smack and pitch. That presumably would eliminate this problem (if this is what's going on).
Never happens with ales, and of course those ferment at temps closer to what I currently get the wort to before pitching, so there is less temp change.
Has anyone else gone through this, or have any thoughts about whether this is what might be going on?
I have had problems with several recent lager batches with fermentation either starting later than normal (I like to see lagers start bubbling about 12 hrs after pitching) or not at all (forcing a quick use of dry yeast). I use single Wyeast Activator packs, no starter, and typically smack the pack about 6 hours before pitching. So the yeast sits at room temp all that time (60s to 70s depending on season) and then goes into wort that's usually in the low 70s at pitch time.
This is where the trouble starts I think - I then put the carboy in a temp controlled freezer and immediately set it for a lager fermentation temperature, say 50F. If I do the trick of taping the temp sensor probe to the carboy, presumably that causes the beer to chill that much faster, and that does seem to align with when I have longer lag times.
I'm wondering if I'm stressing the yeast by changing temps that fast. If I had a better chilling process, I'd chill the wort to 50F before pitching, and then also put the smack pack in a 50F environment between smack and pitch. That presumably would eliminate this problem (if this is what's going on).
Never happens with ales, and of course those ferment at temps closer to what I currently get the wort to before pitching, so there is less temp change.
Has anyone else gone through this, or have any thoughts about whether this is what might be going on?