Lager yeast question

[Corey_James]

I am just getting done with fermenting my first lager. I decided to start with a dopplebock. My O.G. was 1.097 and I just transferred after 40 days of fermentation and it is currently at 1.033. My estimated F.G. was 1.024. The question I have is do I transfer to my lagering fridge and leave it alone or do I pitch another pack of yeast and see if I can get it to drop anymore? I have it in my garage and it holds the beer at 49 degrees. Any advice would help, thanks in advance.

 

[tektonjp]

What temp did you ferment at? How are you measuring FG? Did you ever give it a diacytel rest at room temp for a couple of days? That is what I would try first. 40 days for fermenting is a long time. Seems likely that you definitely under pitched your yeast.

 

[g-star]

Even a challenging beer like that should attenuate further and be done fermenting in about two weeks.

How big was your starter? Off the cuff, I'd say you probably needed upwards of 800B+ cells for a 1.097 cold fermented lager.

 

[Corey_James]

I built a huge starter and fermented at 50 and then a week ago raised the temp 68 for 3 days and then took it back down to 50 for 4 as the yeast then dropped out of suspension. The intial starter was 4 oz DME and 8 oz water, 24 hours later added the same as before. 24 hours after that I added 8 oz DME and 16 oz water for 48 hours. Built at 68 degrees, cold crashed for 2 days and removed liquid and pitched yeast. Final gravity read with a hydrometer and corrected for temp.

 

[Corey_James]

Should I pitch another smack-pack?

 

[g-star]

Should I pitch another smack-pack?

If you just add a smack pack to a beer that already contains 8% alcohol, nothing is going to happen. If you really want to try and get it going again, you'll need to make a starter of an alcohol tolerant neutral ale yeast, and pitch it at high krausen into your beer that has been warmed up into the mid 60's.

You're at about 66% attenuation now, which isn't great but it is probably as far as your initial pitch is going to go. Not sure why you didn't get better attenuation, but these thoughts come to mind:

-Too high of a mash temp (dextrinous wort)
-Low cell count of initial tube/smack pack (old yeast)
-Didn't use pure O2 when oxygenating

I would try getting it down a at least near 1.025. Sounds like right now you are dealing with an under-attenuated, worty-sweet, full bodied beer that will probably be difficult to drink more than one of in a sitting (too full/cloying).

Good luck.

 

[Cyclman]

If you just add a smack pack to a beer that already contains 8% alcohol, nothing is going to happen. If you really want to try and get it going again, you'll need to make a starter of an alcohol tolerant neutral ale yeast, and pitch it at high krausen into your beer that has been warmed up into the mid 60's.

You're at about 66% attenuation now, which isn't great but it is probably as far as your initial pitch is going to go. Not sure why you didn't get better attenuation, but these thoughts come to mind:

-Too high of a mash temp (dextrinous wort)
-Low cell count of initial tube/smack pack (old yeast)
-Didn't use pure O2 when oxygenating

I would try getting it down a at least near 1.025. Sounds like right now you are dealing with an under-attenuated, worty-sweet, full bodied beer that will probably be difficult to drink more than one of in a sitting (too full/cloying).

Good luck.

+1 on these exact issues. High starter cell count and pure O2 aeration are important to a lager. Lagers are harder. Maybe add champagne yeast? Good luck