very slow lager

Need some advice on my first lager attempt.

I brewed an Extract Hacker-Pschorr Octoberfest back on 9/6. Got a late start on an Octoberfest I know. I screwed up making my starter batch and didn't give it enough time to really get going. I used 2 vials of WLP820 in a 3l starter. My OG for the starter ended up at 1.075 which I know is too high. I left out the extra top off water to make room for the starter batch, so my OG for the batch was 1.070 instead of the predicted 1.062.. not to bad. Its been sitting at 55 deg since 9/6. Ferm didn't start until 9/14, even with raising the temp a bit. Today, 10/9 I took a reading and it is 1.050. The sample tastes still very sweet and no where near done. At this rate, it will be next years Octoberfest. I just raised the temp to 60 to try to get things moving along. I don't want to let it sit too long on the cake, but I don't have much a choice. Is the general rule of no more than a month after fermentation is completed, or is it from start to finish? I just gave it a good swirl and raised the temp a bit.

Pitching your yeast into a high gravity starter likely did more harm than good. You basically pitched your lager with a bunch of stressed out yeast.

I'd build a new healthy starter and pitch it at high krausen. At this point, I wouldn't have too high of hopes for the lager.

I would just let it go man, I had a Classic American Pils that took forever to start even with a starter and a month later it only dropped from 1.056 to 1.030, 8 days later it was at 1.012 give it few more days and check it again!

Yeah. There was somebody who did the exact same thing about a weak ago (with a lager nonetheless), made a starter with a gravity of 1.08. It took about a week to show any activity. Not only will high gravity starters stress the yeast out, I read it will also slow down the yeast reproduction.

"Is the general rule of no more than a month after fermentation is completed, or is it from start to finish?" How long it can sit on the cake? It's usually from when they were pitched, but more importantly, the general rule is the health of the yeast that were pitched. The healthier they are, the less likely you will have off-flavors when having them sit on the cake for long times.

Edit:I agree with v2comp, let it drop to 1/3 the remaining F.G. and the rack to secondary. Now that it has started, hopefully it will pick up.

Thanks guys.. I'll see where its at in another week. and make a decision.

OK.. the saga is continuing.. I still had this batch in primary until tonight. I took a reading over the weekend, and it was at 1.030 at 60F. I kicked it up to 65 to kinda do a diacetyl rest and maybe stir up some yeast excitement. Tonight I checked it and it was at 1.026.. I figured enough is enough.. the sample tasted good and its been sitting too long. I racked to secondary and was planning on starting the lagering. Obviously, this batch isn't going to get where it should be - 1.016 roughly. I was toying with the idea of pitching some notty just to make it finish before dropping the temp... Should I just lager it and hope for the best, or pitch to get the FG down in the proper range. I have already racked to secondary so I'm not crazy about pitching more yeast at this point. I also started thinking ahead to the bottling phase.. Isn't it recommended to pitch fresh yeast at bottling time to help with carbonation? If my gravity is still high, and I pitch some yeast into the bottling bucket, I really don't want bombs..

I have good temp control, so I can adjust and do whatever I need to do with temp. What should I do?

If you're bottling, I'd suggest repitching with some notty. 1.026 seems to be too high for bottling, and would concern me (depending on the exact recipe).

THanks.. I added the notty and gave it a few days, nothing started, so I started dropping the temp. I'm at 38 and going to sit there for a month... I did overshoot my OG a bit... Maybe I'll try a bit less priming sugar at bottling time or did the yeast just use up all the edible sugars? Should I add a packet at bottling time?