Lager yeast - no activity

[mbz250sl]

Making my first lager - chilled the wort and the smash pack yeast int the fridge and pitched - looks like I had it pretty chilly in there and I didn't see any activity - after a week I transferred from the primary to the secondary and still no activity - took it out and let it sit for 2 days at room temp - 70 or so in hopes that it would jump start - still no activity but I put it back in the fridge at roughly 55 - should I be seeing any activity? Let it go? Buy another pack of liquid yeast and try again??

Thank in advance for your feedback

 

[BryceL]

Have you taken any gravity readings? You probably should have done this before transferring, but too late now. Lager yeast is usually not as active as ale yeast, so it very well may have fermented. A gravity reading is the only way to tell for sure. Check it before pitching more yeast.

 

[beerman0001]

You way under pitched your yeast. For a lager with a pitch around 50dg you would need 4 packs of yeast. Why did you decide to transfer you wort without taking a hydro reading? Ok you need to take a hydro reading and see where you are at. If nothing is happening go buy 2 packs of Saflager W-34/70 rehydrate and pitch. That should get things going for you.

 

[mbz250sl]

Oh yeast is such a curios critter - so no I did not take any gravity readings but have brewed enough to know what I'm doing - lager yeast is new too me and I guess I read too much and am also playing with a new kegaerator - first mistake was was trying to drop the yeast into a chilled wort - second mistake was too keep it too cold to get active and third mistake was not having the patience needed - so after warming up the wort and still seeing no activity I figured I messed up and needed to get a new batch of liquid yeast - so I stored it in the fridge and raised the temp to what i assumed would be upper 50s and left it alone for a couple of days - was going to head to the store to get new yeast today and gave her a look - well turns out the temp was closer to 70 and the yeast had come alive - airlock a foaming mess - wort all over the inside of the fridge and the smell of rotten eggs - eureka! New airlock in place now - mess cleaned up and temp now at 55 - so appears I'm back on track - appreciate the feedback provided - nothing like experience as a mentor

 

[periwinkle1239]

Goodness.

At least you got her going!

Curious to know what the result is like...

 

[dinnerstick]

have brewed enough to know what I'm doing

er.... no offense meant, but, drastically underpitching, no gravity reading, temperature all over the shop, warm fermentation with a lager yeast....

 

[g-star]

first mistake was was trying to drop the yeast into a chilled wort - second mistake was too keep it too cold to get active and third mistake was not having the patience needed

No, no, and partially yes.

If you pitch enough healthy yeast (at least 5 times the amount you pitched), you can start at 44F and have activity in 8 hrs, and full krausen by 24hrs.

Lager yeast has no problem being active down into the mid-40's...again, if you pitch enough yeast.

It didn't ferment out in the primary, so you thought it would be a good idea to pull it off the yeast and not even bother to take a gravity reading??? Patience is only part of the problem...

I did not take any gravity readings but have brewed enough to know what I'm doing

You need to re-think this statement.

 

[osagedr]

first mistake was was trying to drop the yeast into a chilled wort

Not at all. Proper procedure would be to pitch around 45 to ferment around 48. Your first mistake was not pitching enough yeast.

second mistake was too keep it too cold to get active

Again, you want to pitch cold, but you need lots of yeast to do this. Your yeast will "get active" at cold temperatures, but only if you pitch enough.

third mistake was not having the patience needed

Agreed.

 

[mbz250sl]

Periwinkle - I'll be sure to let you know how it turns outs- first lager so a learning process - lots of lessons learned

Dinner stick - offense taken. - otherwise you would have been kind enough to provide some specific like the others - hop off the high horse

G star and Osagedr - thanks for the feedback - first lager yeast and also a new kegaerator so lots of new variables - read a lot on lager yeast and quite a bit of conflicting information - I used a smack pack of liquid yeast and started it the day before I brewed and thus I assumed I had plenty of yeast to hurt it going

 

[dinnerstick]

come on! you said you knew what you were doing but didn't do your homework on several levels! yeast amount and temperature being the two biggies. definitely use a yeast calculator (mrmalty.com, yeastcalc.com). we all make mistakes, and learn from them.
anyways my apologies for being snarky. i hope it turns out ok, and next one even better