Hey Guys,
I brewed up a schwarzbier for my first lager.... Still pretty new to brewing in general so go easy on me. I made a few mistakes right off the bat, and I'm really hoping I didn't ruin the batch. I used W2007 yeast... Smack pack. Mistake #1 I didn't make a starter. I read the smack packs are good to pitch, but I guess lagers def need a starter. Anyway, I smacked the pack, and it did swell a bit, but when I opened it I only burst one of the two nutrient packs inside. I cut the second and pitched the whole pack. I left the carboy at 68F until about 18 hours later I finally saw a few foam bubbles, and brought it down to 50F. By about 24-30 hours there's was a nice layer of krausen and I was getting about 6 bubbles/minute at the airlock. Since 48 hours or so the airlock activity has stopped.
I'm now on day 5, and there's still a layer of krausen but no airlock activity whatsoever... Just stared at it for 15 mins.
Am I stuck? When is it too late to re-pitch? Should I re-pitch?
I haven't gotten much into taking gravity readings yet, and I know this would tell a much better story, but I can't imagine it's done yet.. It definitely couldn't have finished in 48 hours at 50F
What do you think?
I brewed up a schwarzbier for my first lager.... Still pretty new to brewing in general so go easy on me. I made a few mistakes right off the bat, and I'm really hoping I didn't ruin the batch. I used W2007 yeast... Smack pack. Mistake #1 I didn't make a starter. I read the smack packs are good to pitch, but I guess lagers def need a starter. Anyway, I smacked the pack, and it did swell a bit, but when I opened it I only burst one of the two nutrient packs inside. I cut the second and pitched the whole pack. I left the carboy at 68F until about 18 hours later I finally saw a few foam bubbles, and brought it down to 50F. By about 24-30 hours there's was a nice layer of krausen and I was getting about 6 bubbles/minute at the airlock. Since 48 hours or so the airlock activity has stopped.
I'm now on day 5, and there's still a layer of krausen but no airlock activity whatsoever... Just stared at it for 15 mins.
Am I stuck? When is it too late to re-pitch? Should I re-pitch?
I haven't gotten much into taking gravity readings yet, and I know this would tell a much better story, but I can't imagine it's done yet.. It definitely couldn't have finished in 48 hours at 50F
What do you think?