Lager at Pressure

[Magnieto2003]

Hi all.

I hope you guys and girls can help.

So I had my second brew day yesterday decided to try my hand at a Czech pills as requested by the mrs.

I had the liquid yeast for a couple of weeks in the fridge due to moving I didnt have time for a brew day.....so I pulled it out around 18-24 hours before pitching to allow it to rise to 21c everything went pretty much according to plan and I had lowered the wort to about 22-24c and pitched the yeast into my new fermzilla, (looking to ferment under pressure) I sealed the unit gave it a decent shake and lowered the temp to 12c over about 12-18hrs I'm nearly 24hrs from that point and I cant see any activity.

Should I have left the wort at 21c ish until fermentation began?

Did I lower the temp too quick?

Or am I just being very impatient?

Thanks in advance!

 

[IslandLizard]

I did the same thing with my 2nd brew, an Urquell clone. I apparently forgot to read the chapter in the Clone book about making yeast starters...

If you're lucky it will start up, you can see it by a thin foamy layer (krausen) developing. So give it a few days.
How old was that pack of yeast? Which one? Where did you get it?
How big is your batch?

Do do you have an LHBS nearby?
Meanwhile, it would not be a bad idea to:
a) Make a starter with a new pack, and pitch that after a day (or 2) when ready, or
b) Get a pack of dry Lager yeast such as W-34/70 as a backup.

 

[Magnieto2003]

I did the same thing with my 2nd brew, an Urquell clone. I apparently forgot to read the chapter in the Clone book about making yeast starters...

If you're lucky it will start up, you can see it by a thin foamy layer (krausen) developing. So give it a few days.
How old was that pack of yeast? Which one? Where did you get it?
How big is your batch?

Do do you have an LHBS nearby?
Meanwhile, it would not be a bad idea to:
a) Make a starter with a new pack, and pitch that after a day (or 2) when ready, or
b) Get a pack of dry Lager yeast such as W-34/70 as a backup.

Thanks for the reply.

Starters kinda scare me a bit, only because it's the least I've researched but that's probably the route il go if this one goes south....I was kind of hoping to harvest the yeast to be honest.

The pack was no older than 2 weeks, it was wyeast 2278.

Funnily enough I also have a pack of wlp830 sat in the fridge for my next batch so I might be able to save it with that of it goes south...

The batch size is 24ltr

I get all my ingredients from maltmiller

 

[Magnieto2003]

I did the same thing with my 2nd brew, an Urquell clone. I apparently forgot to read the chapter in the Clone book about making yeast starters...

If you're lucky it will start up, you can see it by a thin foamy layer (krausen) developing. So give it a few days.
How old was that pack of yeast? Which one? Where did you get it?
How big is your batch?

Do do you have an LHBS nearby?
Meanwhile, it would not be a bad idea to:
a) Make a starter with a new pack, and pitch that after a day (or 2) when ready, or
b) Get a pack of dry Lager yeast such as W-34/70 as a backup.

LHBS?

 

[VikeMan]

LHBS?

Local Home Brew Store.

 

[Magnieto2003]

Local Home Brew Store.

Ahh sorry!

Yeah not visitable but maltmiller is like 30mins uo the road

 

[IslandLizard]

The pack was no older than 2 weeks, it was wyeast 2278.

I meant age, based on the date that's printed on the pack, not how long you've had it.
There should be a Manufacturing Date or a Best Used By Date (typically set at 6 months after the manufacturing date) printed on the yeast package. The older it is, the lower the viable cell count, the longer it takes to start fermenting.

Definitely read up on making yeast starters.
Especially the shaken-not-stirred method, as that may well be the fastest route to recovery.

 

[IslandLizard]

Take a gander at this yeast pitch calculator, and the number of yeast cells that ideally should be pitched.
Select "Lager" in the drop down, as that's the type of yeast you're using.

A fresh pack of WYeast has around 125 billion cells at packaging. Loss of viability is around 10% per month if kept refrigerated, and not mishandled.

BrewUnited's Yeast Calculator