Lager Lag Times

[JoshRH]

So I understand that there is a longer lag time than ales when it comes to lagers, just curious if I should be worried? I pitched my yeast ~50 hours ago from when I took these pictures last night. It is aproaching 65 hours now and and used my airstone and air pump for 20 min to oxygenate prior to the pitch. I am using 3 dry packs of Mangrove Jack's M76 Bavarian Lager yeast. My OG was 1.067 and I am guessing with 3 packs I am around 500 billion cells. Should I see a large Visible krausen like with ales? This is my first lager and I am fermenting in my kegerator, As it is in the garage, I checked on it day before yesterday morning and I noticed that the temp was at 36F due to being so cold outside and that was when I decided to install the temp controller and had set the temp controller to 48F when I installed it, and yesterday I bumped it to 50F. Temperature has been steady since installed, Will the yeast come back in to suspension? Is it anything to worry about? Should I just wait it out and have some patience?

 

[LLBeanJ]

Should be fine. There will be a krausen, but likely not as thick or lively as you might have for an ale. In fact, looking at those pics, it's already beginning to form. The long lag time was most likely due to the low temps, but now that you've warmed it, it should come to life pretty quickly.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

I've waited 3 days before any visible activity. I think you'll be fine.

 

[FVillatoro]

Lager yeasts do start slower because of the temperature, AND Mangrove Jack's is notorious for having a very long lag time vs. other dry yeasts.

A krausen is already forming for what I can see.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

I've only made a few Lagers. White Labs recommends starting a little on the warm side to get it going and the drop temps down to lagering temps
Then theres the talk of Lagering at ale temps that I'm going to try just for the fun of it and see if I can crank out a lager in a few weeks with the same crisp flavor

 

[Mer-man]

It's not great. Maybe avoid that brand in the future. You want active fermentation within a day, but obviously the lag phase is unexciting. It should only be hours though, not days.
Did you rehydrate those packs?

 

[JoshRH]

@Mer-man I did rehydrate with 310ml at 74F which is in between their 68F-77F recommended band. I am thinking it may be sluggish bc it dropped to 36F on the first night. Any thought to try and give it a shake to resuspend the yeast?

 

[Mer-man]

Ah my bad, I did not unpack everything you wrote.

Yes, you thermally-shocked your yeast, but it is not any worse than saving slurry post-ferment. When it warms back up to 45-50f, then it will get going again. The problem is that you have retarded the establishment of glorious brewing yeast dominion in that carboy, so you have increased risk of infection.

On a more advanced level, active yeast do a terrific job of protecting your beer from other woes, such as oxidation, but I would only be worried about infection if I were you.