1st Lager yeast pitch question

[jamursch]

Brewed my first lager tonight, but haven't pitched the yeast. Current temp of yeast and fridge is 50 degrees but wort is still around 78. Do I wait until the wort drops in temp closer to 50 or pitch it closer to 70.


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[Yooper]

Assuming you made a yeast starter, with a correct pitching rate (cold pitching lagers uses about twice as much yeast as an ale), chill the wort to 48 degrees and pitch 45 degree yeast into it.

If you didn't make a starter, the only thing to do is pitch warm and wait for reproduction and then try to chill the whole thing to 50 degrees without stalling fermentation.

 

[jamursch]

Thanks Yooper. No starter was made so ill pitch warm and slowly bring down the temp


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[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

Some people say to pitch in the 60s and let the yeast get started for 24 hours or so. Then drop to 50. Yooper (who I would trust with my first born) says to pitch at 50. I've actually done it both ways and couldn't tell the difference in the end. That said, I would not pitch at 78. That's high even for ale yeast. At least get into the 60s.

As long as the fermenter is sealed against contamination, you can just put it in the fridge and wait for everything to be at 50. The delay won't hurt anything.

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

Hah! Yooper, your ears must have been burning. I was typing my response above and posted it only to find you beat me to the punch.

 

[jamursch]

Let's say I did pitch last night when the temp was in the 78 degree range?

I found this morning my airlock had been suctioned out due to the temp changes going on with the wort cooling. It finally hit 55 degrees this afternoon but zero activity in the airlock.

Did I underpitch too much? 1 vial of WL Pilsner Yeast for a 5 gallon batch with a OG of 1.049? Do I need to pitch another vial if I don't see activity soon?

I'll be honest and say I didn't realize I needed way more cells for a lager than an ale and being the low-ish gravity of the beer just skipped the starter and was going to do a direct pitch.

 

[jamursch]

Tested tonight and I'm already close to my FG. Sitting at 1.012 right now and while having a hint of clove it's pretty smooth for the most part. Lagering should clean some of that up I hope.


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[g-star]

Tested tonight and I'm already close to my FG. Sitting at 1.012 right now and while having a hint of clove it's pretty smooth for the most part. Lagering should clean some of that up I hope.


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Just FYI, a single vial no matter how fresh is a massive underpitch for a lager, which should also never be pitched warm. A "hint of clove" is a clear fermentation fault that can be avoided.

Next time, make a gallon stir-plate starter before brewing, crash and decant the spent starter beer. Chill your wort to about 45F, oxygenate with pure O2, and pitch your refrigerator temp slurry. Allow the beer to slowly warm to about 50F over 48hrs. You'll have activity in 12hrs and the beer will be done in about a week. Near the end of fermentation, raise the temp up to about 65F for a diacetyl rest and you'll have one ass-kicking lager on your hands and no off-flavors to "age out".