Can i let this lager cool overnight and pitch in the morning?

Brewed a doppelbock today. My first attempt at a lager.

I want to get the temp down to 50 so i put it in the mini fridge but it's been in there 1.5 hrs and it's only at 65 (down from 75). I don't want to stay up all night here waiting for it to get to 50 so i can pitch my yeast then haul it to the cool basement.

Can I just get up in the morning and pitch?

I've rehydrated 2 pkgs of S-23 and that is also in the fridge.

Please help a tired guy out.

Yikes, that's a problem indeed! If you hadn't rehydrated the yeast, I would definitely say leave it until morning. Given the choice between letting my wort sit over night and pitching at a high temp, I would go with pitching the next morning. But with the yeast already rehydrated... it's really a toss up. Still leaning towards pitching tomorrow, but I could go either way. If you pitch warm, you definitely should do a diacetyl rest.

Just checked again. Still at 62.

Yeast options/ questions:

If i pitch tomorrow morning should i store the rehydrated yeast in the fridge or at room temp?

Another option: I do have a Wyeast Bavarian Lager pack in the fridge. Would it be realistic to make a starter out of that? I would think it would take too long to step it up to a 3 or 4L starter that I would need for this lager.

It might be a bit late to reply.. but maybe an ice bath to get the temp down quickly?

no I'm still up. would an ice bath cool faster than a mini fridge cranked to it's coolest setting?

Actually what I've decided to do after some research/ searching on hbt is to make a starter for the rehydrated yeast so it'll have something to chew on untill tomorrow. I'll let the wort cool in the mini fridge and when I get up in the morning I will cool the starter and then pitch it when they're both the right temperatures.

Yeah, an ice water bath would be much faster then the fridge.. but a starter is a good idea too.

There's no harm in waiting for it to cool.

+1. As long as your sanitization process is solid, no problem in waiting overnight. I do it with all my lagers.

Just as a follow up here:

I let the beer sit overnight in the carboy in the mini fridge.

I had rehydrated the 2 TBSP of S-34 at the end of boil because that is when i will rehydrate dry yeasts when I'm brewing ales. I had no idea it would take sooo long to get the wort down to 50F. In order to make sure the yeast would keep going overnight I made a 2 cup water/ 1/2 cup dme starter and added the rehydrated yeast. I left it out overnight at room temp then the next morning I put it in the freezer to chill it to 50F.

I pitched the yeast at 50 into the 50F wort and moved it to the crawl space under my house which is 50-55F year round (let's here it for a temperate climate!).

12 hrs later there was no activity it the airlock but I wasn't that worried about it after reading this thread.

24 hrs in I climbed into the crawl space and WOW. It was going nuts! Spillover out the airlock. I didn't think I'd need a blow off because of the reading about s-34 but here we are:

Wow. Good job.

Yeah, seriously. Good work man. I was going to suggest making a starter to keep the yeast active, but you sounded tired and it usually takes me an hour or more to make a starter. Lets hear it for a dedicated and resourceful brewer!

Hey thanks everyone!

I was pretty happy with the results but realistically I owe it all HBT. Because I live in a small town I don't have a LHBS to use a resource. Instead, I turn to this place and more often than not it totally comes through for.

Even in the middle of the night I can quickly research yeast strains, starters and get answers to all my questions.