Help! Started my lager ferment too high

[BruBird]

I am used to brewing all grain ales, and just decided to try a lager. I have a fridge that can cool to 8 deg celcius. I am reading so many conflicting things that i am now totally confused (and a little bit panicked!) that my lager is not going to be lager!

I think i have already made a mistake - firstly i pitched 1x pack of saflager (not rehydrated) 34/70 at 21 deg, then put into the fridge which was sitting at 18 deg. It started bubbling almost immediately, so lowered to 17.

12 hours later, i realised i have underpitched - i should have used 2x packs of saflager.

I want to ferment at 10 deg, but am worried my yeast will be shocked by the sudden drop, espcially if it is not enough. So 18 hours later, i have dropped the temp to 15 degs.

Do i need to get more yeast? Or can i drop the temp to 10 or 12 degrees now and hold there for longer?

Thanks!

 

[zacster]

doing the C to F conversion in my head tells me you started too high. I pitch at 45 and then slowly bring it up to 50 over the course of a week, then bring it to 62 for a D-rest. That's from 8C to 10C and then 17. And yes, you do need more yeast for a lager. All is not lost. You will get beer, but maybe not the beer you were aiming for. My first lagers were all underpitched if you listen to everyone here, but they came out fine. Nobody ever said to me "This beer tastes funny, you must not have used enough yeast".

 

[BruBird]

Thanks Zacster! I wonder if you might have a bit more advice for me? I took it down to 10 degrees and have left it there (now 7 days fermenting) my reading says it is down to 1.036 and i read it should be about 1.025 to do the d-rest which i think would be after 10-14 days.

So my question would be, should i just leave it in primary now for 3 - 4 weeks (or longer), and then bottle? I never rack to secondary, more because i am worried about messing up my beer than anything else. But i also do not have a keg, and so go straight from primary to carbonate in bottles. I am not sure i should do a d-rest and then take the temp back down to sit a while longer whilst still in primary?

Thanks!

 

[Bowtiebrewery]

My suggestion is patience on this... Lagers need that extra time to clean up after themselves... I would say if you can keep it at your current temperature until you hit 75% of where you want to be at FG, then you can drop it down to 4-5C For 3-4 Weeks.

As far as transfering to a secondary... I would only transfer if you can guarantee that you are confident in your sanitation. Some say leave it on the primary yeast cake and trub, but I am of them mind for Lagers, you should transfer it off because of the potential for Yeast Autolysis.

http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter10-3.html

So to reiterate. you are only 7 days in... Its often common for primary fermentation to take 1-3 weeks in a Lager. So... Keep it where it is until you reach your d-rest gravity number which should be around the 1.025 range... Then raise it up 16C for 2 days, then lower it to 4-5C for lagering.

Read up on Palmers website. Extremely helpful and is kind of the "bible" for home brewing.
http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter10-1.html

 

[zacster]

I would wait and check the gravity each day until it is closer to 1.025, then raise the temp to 62. Leave it that way for a few days, until you reach the final gravity. Transfer to either a secondary or keg to get it off the yeast/trub and then lager from there. If you had a keg I'd suggest you just put it in the keg under pressure and stick in the fridge, but since you don't just use what you have.

You'll probably be surprised by how good it is, even if it doesn't come out perfect. And now you know how to make it better for next time. Make a 2 liter starter, pitch at 45 for both wort and starter, raise slowly to 50, when ready do a d-rest at 62, transfer out of primary, cold crash and allow to lager.