"Fast" Lager not very fast

[snowtiger1987]

Mistakenly thinking that the WLP845 label read Fest Lager instead of Fast Lager I picked up a vial to use for half of my Oktoberfest. I normally brew 10 gallons and pitch WLP 838 (Southern German Lager) in half that becomes Vienna Lager.

Since the Fast Lager vial was a few months old I did a 2 liter starter for a 5 gallon batch at 1.056 and did not do anything for the pack of Southern German Lager. After fermenting at 50 degrees - 14 days later the Fast Lager half was at 1.024 and the Southern German Lager half was at 1.010.

After swirling and warming to 60 degrees the Fast Lager half seems to be fermenting again.

 

[kh54s10]

Interesting White Labs website has almost no information on it. My guess is that it is fast at a little warmer temperatures than you would normally ferment a lager. Thus when you raised the temperature it took off again.

 

[snowtiger1987]

It is one of their "Vault" strains.

 

[kingmatt]

Hmm, maybe it is fast in that it doesn't require a long lagering period?

 

[waldoar15]

Never heard of that yeast.

But you under pitched and I haven't seen White Labs vials in a while, so it was probably a little long in the tooth.

 

[kh54s10]

From what I have seen White Labs has not totally converted over to the Fast Pitch Packs.

The OP stated the yeast was a couple of months old. It was an underpitch but if it was done on a stirplate it was not a severe underpitch.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

They seem to still use the tubes for seasonal releases whilst using the plastic pouches for the core range.

However, it looks like WLP845 was a seasonal release last November, so it will have been past its sell-by date.

As an aside, the 2018 release schedule looks like this.

 

[Nagorg]

They absolutely use the tubes for the Vault releases.

 

[waldoar15]

They absolutely use the tubes for the Vault releases.

Ah, OK. My local never gets any of the vault releases so that explains why I never see tubes anymore.

 

[ba-brewer]

I used the fast lager once, bought it on accident too, thinking it was the high pressure lager.

Not sure about the name too. It fermented out about the same speed as most other lager yeasts, cleared/cleaned up in about the same amount of lager time too.

 

[SanPancho]

Its supposed to be at higher temps, and also under pressure i believe. Used it once, cant recall results or find notes.