harebearva
Well-Known Member
I've been reading ALOT about this and have found many varying schools of thought on how and when to pitch lager yeast. The one thing Most everyone is somewhat vague on is what the temperature of the yeast should be for pitching.
For the sake of argument let's say for a 2 gallon batch of normal gravity lager, I'm rehydrating W-34/70 at around 70 degrees. I want to pitch at fermenting temperature, low 50's but my question is do I chill my yeast slurry close to or at fermenting temps before pitching or do I pitch with the yeast slurry at 70 degrees? As well, the instructions on my other yeast choice, a smack pack say to activate at 70-75 degrees and let it go for 3 hours then pitch. But the directions say that if you want to pitch at fermenting temps to increase pitch rate, but says nothing of temps of yeast.
I guess my ultimate question is will pitching a room temperature yeast slurry of say 70ish degrees into 53 degree wort be too much of a shock to the yeast?
I do apologize if this topic has been covered ad nauseum but my search tweeter seems to not be working too well for me today, LOL
Thanks for any help,
~Hare
For the sake of argument let's say for a 2 gallon batch of normal gravity lager, I'm rehydrating W-34/70 at around 70 degrees. I want to pitch at fermenting temperature, low 50's but my question is do I chill my yeast slurry close to or at fermenting temps before pitching or do I pitch with the yeast slurry at 70 degrees? As well, the instructions on my other yeast choice, a smack pack say to activate at 70-75 degrees and let it go for 3 hours then pitch. But the directions say that if you want to pitch at fermenting temps to increase pitch rate, but says nothing of temps of yeast.
I guess my ultimate question is will pitching a room temperature yeast slurry of say 70ish degrees into 53 degree wort be too much of a shock to the yeast?
I do apologize if this topic has been covered ad nauseum but my search tweeter seems to not be working too well for me today, LOL
Thanks for any help,
~Hare