Still Concerned

I'm having an internal crisis over my two batches of lager beer I just brewed this weekend. One has almost been in the primary for 72 hours and the other is has been in for 48. Both batches started out bubbling after 18 hours and now they both are not doing a thing except emit a lovely rotten egg smell. Now I understand from all the reading I have done in books and on this forum that this is normal for lagers especially the rotten egg smell.

However, I did read that this could be the result of yeast cells that still haven't fully adapted to the wort or it was an inactive or bad strain of yeast cells and I may have to pitch more yeast. Now here's the dilemma...I live on an island that has no breweries or brewery stores and all my supplies come from Ozark, Missouri and could take up to ten days. If I need to pitch more yeast...what do I do??

Should I just wait until it's time to bottle and let it condition for a while or try to pitch more yeast. The two lagers are:

German Oktoberfest
1 package crystal malted grains
1 package of light, amber, and wheat dry malt extract and hallertauer bittering hops
1 Irish Moss
1 package hersbrucker hop pellets
1 package tettnanger hop pellets
1 package lager yeast

Bavarian Bock
1 package crystal, chocolate and victory malted grains
1 package of light dry malt extract and hallertauer bittering hops
1 Irish Moss
1 package saaz and tettnanger hops
1 package lager yeast

Thanks for you help in advance.

The best way to answer those questions is with a specific gravity reading, so you know if the yeast has fermented the expected amount of sugar. Check the attenuation rate for your yeast strains and compare that percentage to the amount of change in original gravity vs. current gravity.
If you don't have a hydrometer just let them sit- can't really hurt anything, right?

If you're using dry yeast, go ahead and order an extra packet or 3 with your next batch of ingredients. It's easy to keep and very handy in a pinch.

What temperature are they fermenting at?

Check the gravity.

Given your situation, I'd have a few packets of Nottingham and a few of Saflager in the fridge. They're good for a year or more.

The temperature in the closet is 68-70 degrees. Should I have ordered different yeast to accomidate for the slightly warmer temperatures(outside temp never dips below 78 here). If I take a SG reading this early won't that run the risk of contaminating the batch? Thank you again for your replies

68-70 is pretty ideal for most ales.

Except it looks like he used lager yeast on both batches... oops. That's a bit warm for a lager sir.

whoops, lol. yeah..you need to cool that! get a small fridge and convert it

Okay here is another question. Do I still have a chance order ale yeast and pitch into the worts that have already a lager yeast in them...is that possible? Or do I still have time to find a refrigerator that I can store my two batches in and does any one use a deep freezer with a temperature control device to help keep the wort from freezing? Thanks again your inputs are helping tremendously.

Adam

I doubt it. my guess is the lager yeast went nuts and fermented to completion, producing lots of sulphur aromas.

yes, plenty of us have chest freezers with temp controllers, either for keg'd beer or for lagering.

DO YOU HAVE a hydrometer? didn't see an answer to that question. if not, order one...its a mandatory tool.

Sorry, yes I have one and will post them shortly.

I took the readings and they are as follows:

Oktoberfest

OG: 1.040
Current reading: 1.010(approx FG is supposed to be 1.009)

Bavarian Bock
OG: 1.050
Current reading: 1.020(approx FG is supposed to be 1.011)

I tasted each beer after the readings and the Oktoberfest taste pretty good and is almost comparible, in taste, with Sam Adams. The Bavarian Bock on the other hand taste off and smells like crap. Does beer get worse in the fermentor before it gets better? Also, should I leave them both in the buckets for the full duration, bottle, or do what I really don't want to do.

Adam