First time using lager yeast wlp820

[okiedog]

aharri1, I hope all goes well for you. I harvest and pitch yeast slurry, and 2nd generation of the O'fest yeasts are much quicker to start. For some reason it seems that the 1st gen is always slow to start. I think it just needs a higher cell count.

 

[aharri1]

aharri1, I hope all goes well for you. I harvest and pitch yeast slurry, and 2nd generation of the O'fest yeasts are much quicker to start. For some reason it seems that the 1st gen is always slow to start. I think it just needs a higher cell count.

Thank you, and I totally agree with you! It's about 12 hours in and I took a look at wort and the yeast is cloudy going towards the top and saw a bubble every 30 seconds in my airlock so maybe that's a good sign. I'll probably take a look again around supper time. Holding steady at 54 degrees now. I have never tried harvesting yeast but I would really like to. any suggestions on that? Tired of paying 5 to 7 Bucks everytime I brew for yeast!

 

[aharri1]

Well folks we have liftoff!! I either under pitched even though I did a starter or just had some bad yeast. I didn't think to look at the manufacturing date from the yeast I ordered online [emoji52]. I cut the temperature down to 52 and plan to ramp it down to 50 by late tonight depending on how it looks.

 

[okiedog]

Awesome! Glad to hear you're fermenting.

 

[aharri1]

Thanks brother!

 

[aharri1]

Got a stir plate and a 5-liter flask I'm now ready to rock! no more under pitching LOL

 

[okiedog]

Okay! I have had good luck with both Imperial and Gigayeast. They both 200 billion cells, which is like double Wyeast or White Labs packs.

 

[aharri1]

Okay! I have had good luck with both Imperial and Gigayeast. They both 200 billion cells, which is like double Wyeast or White Labs packs.

Awesome! I'll check them out

 

[jveruin]

Hey everybody! I pitched the yeast for my first lager Sunday night and keep getting conflicting information from the website for wlp820 for the best temperature range. My temp has been steady around 48 to 50 for the first 3 days and I saw a bubble in the airlock every 30 seconds this morning. I was just wondering if anyone has used this yeast before and had any temp schedule suggestions? Here is my lager so far ! View attachment 590065

This strain is notoriously slow. Like, really slow. I’ve been at the same place. It will likely take off, but even Ehite Labs warns about the slowness in early generations.

 

[aharri1]

This strain is notoriously slow. Like, really slow. I’ve been at the same place. It will likely take off, but even Ehite Labs warns about the slowness in early generations.

I think I might have got a bad strain. I went ahead and Pitched some wyeast 2263 and did a starter and it took off Monday night! Thanks for the response !

 

[okiedog]

Awesome! I'll check them out

I don't know it they have 3056 equivalent, but I have had good results using other yeast strains from those two yeast suppliers.

 

[aharri1]

I don't know it they have 3056 equivalent, but I have had good results using other yeast strains from those two yeast suppliers.

Okay so I'll check out Imperial yeast and Giga yeast correct? I'm also making a starter for my pumpkin Imperial Stout I'm brewing on Sunday [emoji41]

 

[aharri1]

Just to give you guys an update after 4 weeks lager is down to 1.016. Plan to start the lagering process in a keg this week!

 

[aharri1]

Took a sample 4 weeks into lagering and put it slow and low on gas for a week will check carbonation after 7 days.

 

[aharri1]

Carbed up now!

 

[Schmoltsbeer]

We'll 820 likes temperatures in the mid 50's. Why is everyone trying to crank their temp all the way down to 50?

 

[aharri1]

We'll 820 likes temperatures in the mid 50's. Why is everyone trying to crank their temp all the way down to 50?

True!! I harvested the yeast from this batch and used it on a dark lager at 50 and it took off in 36 hours big time so who knows ?

 

[Schmoltsbeer]

True!! I harvested the yeast from this batch and used it on a dark lager at 50 and it took off in 36 hours big time so who knows ?

I just fermented a helles back 1.064 og with wlp 820 at 55, it took off quickly. Taste before cold crashing was clean, no fusel alcohols or other of flavors. Going to keg today. Point is, if it's sluggish at 50- warm it up a bit. 50 is on the low side door this yeast per white labs.

 

[jdauria]

Old thread, but wish I saw this sooner. Had a few beers in Nationals this year and was sure if any advanced to finals, it would be my NZ Pils, so I rebrewed it, only to find my Czech Dark advanced...and I just rebrewed it Saturday and used WLP820 hoping the malt forward yeast would drive out even more malt complexity from the beer...but little did I know it was a slow yeast. Only have a month for this beer to finish be carbonated and bottled. Pitched a starter yesterday at 51F...going to bump it to 54F when I get home and also going to use the quick lager method and push it to around 65F when it's 50% attenuated to try to get it to finish fermenting within two weeks. I used a new Pure Pitch larger yeast packs, combined with the starter, so pitched a ton of yeast.