Do Lagers blow out like Ales do?

[BrewWhat]

After a couple years of brewing Ales I brewed a Dopplebock (1.083 OG) using WLP-830. It had a blowout on the day after pitching. Is this normal for a yeast that is fermenting at 54 degrees? I put a blowoff tube on it and it's still doing fine after 5 days. I just thought that the fermentation wouldn't be as violent in a lager at those colder temps.

 

[Hammy71]

As a general rule lagers are not as violent. But, that one has a pretty high OG, so it doesn't surprise me too much.

 

[Delaney]

I used Kolsch yeast and at 55F it fermented like crazy!

 

[bassmaster911]

I just brewed my first lager and had an unexpected blowoff(wlp838) 1.050 Munich Helles pitched at 48 and fermented at 51. For me I think it was cause by pitching the correct amount of healthy yeast 4.5 liter starter on a stir plate.

 

[Delaney]

ditto...I didn't use a stir plate but I made a bigass starter.

Whenever I've pitched without a starter at lager temperatures, I've had very slow fermentations. But with the proper amount of yeast...it seems it can be just as vigorous as at ale temps, if the yeast can handle the cold.

 

[mattldm]

I just brewed our first lager yesterday (An oktoberfest, 1.055) and used WLP838 that I got from a local microbrewery. They pulled it off the cone of one of their fermenters for me the day before, and Ill tell you what, the fermentation is every bit as vigorous and violent as my ale ferments. I have the temp at 52 and its rocking!