kal
Well-Known Member
Hi everyone!
I'm about a week into my first batch that is fermenting at considerably lower temps then room temp using a chiller.
It's a Munich Dark Lager (thebrewhouse.com all-grain wort kit) that I'm brewing using Wyeast 2308 Munich lager yeast that works best at 48-56'F so I'm fermenting the wort in a chiller set to 50'F.
My questions are basically: Should be chilling the wort down to the target temp before pitching? If not, when do I chill and how fast? Or do you chill the starter to the target temp before pitching the liquid yeast into it?
Below are the steps I took. My main concern is that fermentation was slow at starting even though I made a fairly large starter.
1. Smacked the Wyeast 2308 pack at room temp (72'C) and let it swell.
2. 18 hours later: Smack pack nicely swelled (almost rock hard). Made a 2L (1/2 gal) starter with around 200-300g of light DME. Poured the smack pack into the starter and let it ferment at 72'F.
3. 24 hours later: Starter done fermenting. Pitched entire 2L (1/2 gal) starter into wort already chilled to 60'F and placed wort in chiller set to 50'F. (Should I not have chilled the wort first?).
4. 12 hours later: Wort now chilled down to 51-52'F. (Is this too fast?)
5. 48 hours later: Bubbling every few seconds. Seems like a slow start (2-3 days)but going ok now.
I'm starting to think that I should have pitched the room temp starter into room temp wort and then slowly cooled the wort down from 72'F to 50'F over a period of 2 days or so. Make sense? Or maybe I should have chilled the starter?
Thanks guys!
Kal
I'm about a week into my first batch that is fermenting at considerably lower temps then room temp using a chiller.
It's a Munich Dark Lager (thebrewhouse.com all-grain wort kit) that I'm brewing using Wyeast 2308 Munich lager yeast that works best at 48-56'F so I'm fermenting the wort in a chiller set to 50'F.
My questions are basically: Should be chilling the wort down to the target temp before pitching? If not, when do I chill and how fast? Or do you chill the starter to the target temp before pitching the liquid yeast into it?
Below are the steps I took. My main concern is that fermentation was slow at starting even though I made a fairly large starter.
1. Smacked the Wyeast 2308 pack at room temp (72'C) and let it swell.
2. 18 hours later: Smack pack nicely swelled (almost rock hard). Made a 2L (1/2 gal) starter with around 200-300g of light DME. Poured the smack pack into the starter and let it ferment at 72'F.
3. 24 hours later: Starter done fermenting. Pitched entire 2L (1/2 gal) starter into wort already chilled to 60'F and placed wort in chiller set to 50'F. (Should I not have chilled the wort first?).
4. 12 hours later: Wort now chilled down to 51-52'F. (Is this too fast?)
5. 48 hours later: Bubbling every few seconds. Seems like a slow start (2-3 days)but going ok now.
I'm starting to think that I should have pitched the room temp starter into room temp wort and then slowly cooled the wort down from 72'F to 50'F over a period of 2 days or so. Make sense? Or maybe I should have chilled the starter?
Thanks guys!
Kal