I'm having lager paranoia.. Possible stuck Fermentation?

Brewed my first lager Saturday, pitched Wyeast 2112 California Lager - pitched at exactly 70 degrees which for this yeast was a little bit high however I placed the bucket directly into my beer fridge which was sitting at about 42 degrees, the temp was correct within no time at all (I had something to do, I had to pitch the yeast).

Now, I adjusted the fridge temp that night and it's been harboring the beer at a consistent 55 degrees F. As of this morning, I haven't seen any sign of action whatsoever. I'm pretty laid back while brewing, I don't worry much. This morning I picked up the bucket and gave it a swirl for about 30 seconds - no splashing, just creating a circular current to get what may be dormant yeast up and moving.

I'm giving my beast yeast the benefit of the doubt here, I have faith they will come through for me... HOWEVER - When I get home from work today, if I find no action, where do I take it from here? I've never had a faulty fermentation, just re-pitch more?

Initial information, here was my recipe and timeline:

3 GALLON BATCH
3.4# 2row
1.3# flaked corn

90min mash

.15oz chinook @ 60
.75oz columbus wet hops @ 10

1.044 OG - 78% BHO

Cooled to 70F, pitched Wyeast 2112 Saturday @ 3pm (no starter - 3 gallons, I thought I would be okay)

Brought beer temp down to upper 50s, 60 flat. Fridge is idle at 55 deg F, low end temp for Wyeast 2112.

Monday @ 7am - swirled bucket to "wake up" possible dormant yeast.


If any further information is needed to help figure this out, let me know. Thanks HBT - talk me down!

California Lager can ferment fine in low 60s. Warm it up a bit?

flabyboy said:

California Lager can ferment fine in low 60s. Warm it up a bit?

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Okay - so tonight, if there is no action, I'll take it out of the fridge and let it sit at my basement ambient temp - High 60's, hopefully that will give it a kick in the rear.

At what point do I consider another pack of yeast and is there a point where I give up? Not that I EVER will quit on my beer - I'll see this out till the end, the second part of that question is basically out of curiosity.. I imagine the longer the beer sits with no fermentation, no CO2 blanket / push, no yeast fighting uglies if there are any present, the higher I risk losing the batch?

I think if you get it warmed up a bit and maybe gently agitate it with a sanitized spoon, it will get going for you. Don't splash the wort just gentle upward strokes with the spoon. I had to do this a few times with an open fermentation I did recently. I would skim the top and agitate the yeast at the bottom to form a new Krausen

Thanks Flabyboy - hopefully it will be going when I get home but if not I'll follow your advice.

No action at all. It's sitting out of the fridge, I CAREFULLY sanitized a spoon and stirred; well, more moved what was on bottom upwards.

Fingers crossed.

Guessing if there is no action by tomorrow night I'll pitch another packet.

Jsmith82 said:

No action at all. It's sitting out of the fridge, I CAREFULLY sanitized a spoon and stirred; well, more moved what was on bottom upwards.

Fingers crossed.

Guessing if there is no action by tomorrow night I'll pitch another packet.

Click to expand...

What's the current beer temperature? If I remember correctly, California lager yeast is a hybrid strain, and does very well in the high 50s/low 60s but not as well at cold temperatures.

at 55 degrees your beer is 3 degrees lower than the stated range of 58-68 for that yeast, i would set it to 65.

It's mid 50s still after sitting in the basement for some hours now, I brought it upstairs where our house is set at 73, wrapped it in a blanket. I'll move it back to the basement tomorrow morning where it should stay in the 60s.

For some reason I thought this yeast had a range from 55 to 65 so I guess I brought this on myself.

Update - as of this morning, the yeast has not woken up. The beer is in the middle 60s, guess it's safe to say at this point (somebody please correct me if I'm wrong) this original yeast batch is dead..

I really hate to repitch, worried this is going to taste like yeast and nothing but with another packet in 3 gallons I suppose I should just worry about getting fermentation going ASAP.

!@#$

Not what I planned for my first lager - this is very demotivating. I've never had an issue like this brewing and I've brewed a TON this year.

I think you need to be patient. You basically put your yeast asleep. It's going to take awhile to get that wort up to room temp. What's the actual temp of your wort right now?

I had to run home at lunch so I checked the temp on the bucket, 67F. I went ahead and sanitized my thermometer I used to carry around with me in my cooking days and opened up the bucket - fermentation is generally warmer so I was going to try and get a reading from right in the middle of the bucket.

To my surprise, I caught a big whiff of beer smell, here's what I saw:



I didn't even take the reading (I hate opening buckets for ANYTHING other than bottling, much less sticking something in there other than a siphon), shut the bucket and left it alone. I'll move it back downstairs to the 60s temps tonight, I think it's good and starting to go.

I'll post back any other problems but thank you Flabyboy for the advice! I'm too used to ale yeast blasting off almost immediately.

So, what was the end result?

A watery but drinkable lawnmower beer. It carbed up very nice and was super clear, however I shared it with nobody because it lacked body and flavor lol, but I enjoyed it. Would I brew this again? Nope. I did like the yeast though, the beer smelled like and tasted like a lager-ish ale.