"Ran out of time and just went for it "-- Need advise

Ok, story is too long, but I brewed last night an almost 2 yr old B.B. Vienna Lager with new hops and White Labs WLP830. This is my 3rd batch ever and told the LHBS that I couldn't properly lager and need to brew as an ale. Probably not the best yeast strain, right ? Ran out of time to do proper research on this brew. So, I just went for it.

I pitched 5 gallons at 62F, with a OG of 1.049. It is currently at 55F without any activity.Didn't know about starters until it was too late.

I am confused has how to proceed with this WLP830 ? as an ale or un-lagered lager.

How fast can I make this a descent, drinkable beer since I am moving cross country in middle of Feb. ? Cut out secondary ?

Any advise would go a long way guys !

Thanks

You are in the right neighborhood temp wise for WLP830....so your primary will be fine.
Give the yeast at least 48 hours to work and even then don't expect irruptions of activity.

Do you have a garage or space where you can get it colder, say down to 30-40? If not...you will still make beer whether you lager or not, so It should be fine.
Let it ferment out, bottle it, then enjoy at your new home in March.

I wouldn't stress over it....this is homebrew after all.

E-Mursed,

Since this is a cross country move, we will have a moving company and fly, not drive to our new house. I don't think moving 2 cases of beer in a semi-truck will be good idea. My thinking is that I need to consume before March 1.
Is that just cutting it way to close ? How do people handle moving and brewing when they cant transport themselves ?

My garage will get down to 50F. The WLP830 i bought also had a best before
1-5-2013. IT was probably on the low end of living viable yeasts, huh? I feel like i really missed the mark with this one. Will it take forever for this one to take off ?

Do you have vehicles that will get moved also? If so back your bottled beer in it.

Good luck on the move

Well.... you might see about getting some hearty ale yeast and throwing it in there to try to take over. I'd get some Nottingham or US-05 and pitch it ASAP.

Based on MrMalty's calculator, your pitch rate was about 5% the ideal---you should have pitched 22 vials of that yeast, or about a gallon starter using *eight* vials.... Even if your yeast held their viability a lot better than predicted, you've massively underpitched. It will eventually take off, I'm sure, but you're not in a great place to start from.

So, if I were you, I'd see how soon I could get some viable yeast in there. Bear in mind I haven't tried this myself, but that's the approach I'd take. If you do let it ride, I'd bring it into the house for a few days after fermentation wraps up for a D-rest, and then get it as cold as you can for a lager or semi-lager, or bottle it and stick those in the fridge for as long as you can for bottle lagering.

JMO...but I have never used Mr Malty, and my beers have turned out just fine. I make 1600mL starters with liquid yeast, and just rehydrate my dry yeast.

As far as your beer is concerned, pack it in cartons marked fragile, and ship them.

Thanks Guys for your responses. I know i under pitched but didn't know that i
was that far off. 5% is a joke. At this point I could :

A) Just wait and see approach, hope it takes off and in the right direction
B) Go to LHBS on Monday and get the same yeast to make a starter,
but even then, I am days away from pitching it right ? I barely
Have room in the fermentor for a 1 GALLON PITCH ! WOW !
C) Introduce a Ale yeast and basically do the same thing as option B but with
the ale yeast. Will it take over and then become a ALE ?
D) ?????????

Which is the overall better option ? Im ok with waiting for it to take off but
if it means the beer will have off flavors or introduce other risks then I will
re-pitch.

Perhaps I can ship the beer in the car transport. Good idea, i will look into it, thanks !

Thanks GUYS you are the best !