Wyeast 2112 question

I brewed a California Common five days ago using Wyeast 2112. The activator pack really didn't expand as much as other strains I've used but I pitched anyway. Well, now I've noticed that my beer is apparantly fermenting pretty slow. I was getting airlock bubbles about every ten to fifteen seconds for the second day. Now the past few days I have noticed no bubbling in the airlock. I have been giving the fermenter a gentle swirl every once in a while and then I get some airlock activity for a few hours. Is this common for this strain of yeast? Also, now it's been five days ,and assuming it's still activley fermenting, this is the longest primary fermentation I've had. What do you guys think?

What temp are you fermenting at? If you ferment at the low end of the yeasts range then sometime it will take longer to ferment out and will seem slow. Try not to swirl the fermenter too much and just let the little boogers eat in peace.

I'd then wait till you have no more airlock activity and then take a reading to see what your FG is. Then compare it to what your yeast profile should be as far as attenuation and flocculation.


Edit: I just looked up your yeast profile and found that wyeast 2112 has a profile like this:

California Lager 2112 attenuation-67-71% flocculation-High Temp range-58-68 °F alcohol tolerance-9%

Take a hydrometer reading. It's the only way to know for sure.

S

I'm keeping it at 62-63 degrees. There was no airlock activity. I gave it a little swirl (not with a utensil, just moving the fermenter) and now I've had activity in the airlock for about 16 hours now. I guess the main question is, if I'm not seeing activity in the airlock should I swirl (considering that I've done it and seen activity) again or just let it sit and assume the yeast are still active? I mean, are the yeast going dormant and then re-activating after the swirl action?

Hmmm... well it's been 5 days plus! Do you have any clumps of yeasty looking masses floating around or any krausen on top? Lager yeast are bottom fermenting types but you should still get some kinda activity by now.

Lager yeast WILL take a long time to ferment out. I have used Saflager S-23 (dry) for a few batches and it took awhile to start fermenting, and it also took awhile to finish. But I was making a California Common, aka; Steam beer.

If you're not having any airlock activity I'd atleast try and pitch another lager yeast (if that's what you are going for). My advice is keep some dry yeast handy in case you ever run into this problem again. By keeping it cool and having the airlock on you are in no danger of spoiled wort. Just keep it cool till you repitch something.

Hope everything goes well!

Update! Have had airlock activity for a couple days now (ever since I gently swirled) so I think all is well. I guess I'm just a little paranoid and not used to the lager yeast. Thinks for the response. I'll heed your advice on the dry yeast and add a few packets to my next order. Thanks again.