Slow start ?

Using WL830 german lager yeast in a Sam Adams clone.
Recommended fermentation temp of 45-55 for this strain so have my primary in my wine chiller at 50. So far so good.
3 days and not a single bubble that I've seen.
Any thoughts ??
Thanks

 

I see 50-55°F for this yeast. Maybe bump it up to 55.

What was the date on the yeast? And was it "best by" or "manufactured" date?
What was the OG and what size batch?
Starter or no starter?
Did you oxygenate?
Pitched at what temp?

 

Yeast good through Aug 2015
5 gals of 1.052
No starter
Oxygenated and pitched at 75

 

Could be the fermenter is not fully sealed and the co2 is leaking somewhere other than airlock.

 

1 vial of lager yeast, straight into 5 gallons of wort with no starter? Wild underpitch, that's why it's taking so long to get started.

 

5 gallons of 1.052 wort with a lager yeast would require 416 billion cells. 1 vial, straight from the factory will yield between 75 and 150 billion cells, so even in the best case scenario, you only pitched about a third as much yeast as you should have. They're overwhelmed and stressed, and taking some time to build up their cell count.

They'll eventually ferment, but in the future, make a starter.

 

+1. You should always make a starter for lagers (unless it's like a 1 gallon batch or so). This is likely your issue. Let it ride another few days and you should begin to see some activity I would think.

 

Thanks for the input guys. Sounds like I need to start using a starter.
This is my 6th batch and others were fine either with dry or smack packs. This is first time with WL vial.
Last Q, should I add more or just wait and give more time.
Thanks

 

At this point, I would wait it out. You should see some action in the next day or two. If nothing by Saturday morning, then it's panic time (i.e., rehydrate and pitch some S-33).

 

Ok after 5 days at 50 deg, absolutely NO activity, OG at 1.052 & at 5 days 1.052.
Obvisously screwed up with only one vial of WL830 German lager, made the stupid mistake of assuming it was enough. Never again.

I have one packet of dry ale yeast avail. Can I use this to make a quick starter and re pitch tonight.

Since opened lid last night for gravity, have I infected since I've had no buffer of CO2 for 24hrs

Repitch or dump ???

Thanks in advance.

 

#1, don't make a starter with dry yeast, just rehydrate it and pitch. #2, you pitched a lager yeast originally, and are now considering pitching an ale yeast. Make sure you adjust the temperature accordingly. #3, I stand by my advice - if nothing by tomorrow morning, rehydrate and pitch some dry lager yeast (S-33).

 

You probably meant Fermentis Saflager S-23, lager yeast.

S-33 is an ale yeast.

 

Agree with kombat that you should pitch some more dry lager yeast if there's no activity soon. I always use Saflager W-34/70 though.

Also, regarding this:

If there was no fermentation taking place then there is no CO2 in there to begin with (well just whatever is naturally in the ambient air I guess). Also, CO2 does not protect from infections. The CO2 produced by fermentation will purge the air from the headspace which will prevent oxidation. But you don't need to worry about that right now since fermentation hasn't started. I would be very careful not to open it up too much though because you could easily introduce some wild microbe that could infect the beer since the yeast have not gotten to work yet.

 

Dry yeast packs generally have enough yeast for a typical 5 gallon ale.

Smack packs contain roughly the same amount of yeast as a White Labs vial.

Don't make the mistake that breaking the nutrient pack is the same as making a starter, it is just to energize the yeast and for proof that they are still alive.

Ales require less yeast than do lagers, a starter is advisable on ales greater than 1.040 or so. Some say the cut off is 1.060 but I don't go that high. In fact I have never pitched liquid yeast without making a starter.

Did you take a gravity reading when you opened it? Has the gravity dropped? Did you see any sign of krausen?

If no drop in gravity or sign of krausen I would get some dry lager yeast, rehydrate it and pitch it.

If you do have fermentation you could just wait it out.

 

You're right, of course.