Liquid Lager Yeast not starting?

[bottlebomber]

1.052 is the SG now from 1.053/1/1.054 12 hours ago....I think I'll go buy a couple packs of Saflager S-23 very shortly, and use this. Whichever is stronger will dominate

Im not sure if it really works that way, the yeast competing to take the other strain over... im pretty sure they will both just do their own thing till the works done. Some yeasts that you can buy are actually a blend of more than one variety. I don't know if that's what you meant, but I've heard people talk about being nervous that the one yeast will kill the other or something like that, as if they're opposing armies. The yeasties are all on the same team

 

[Delaney]

Im not sure if it really works that way, the yeast competing to take the other strain over... im pretty sure they will both just do their own thing till the works done. Some yeasts that you can buy are actually a blend of more than one variety. I don't know if that's what you meant, but I've heard people talk about being nervous that the one yeast will kill the other or something like that, as if they're opposing armies. The yeasties are all on the same team

Interesting...I'll have to read up more on yeast

But the store is closed today so Im out of luck there anyways

 

[Delaney]

Well I'm glad I didn't go buy more yeast...

It's going strong now 110 hours after pitching

 

[bottlebomber]

Well I'm glad I didn't go buy more yeast...

It's going strong now 110 hours after pitching

Keep us updated on. How it turns out. That's the longest lag time I've ever heard of (I mean most brews are done with active by then) and im curious how that would effect the flavor

 

[Delaney]

Yeah I think I under-pitched, and therefore wort temperature played a factor also...

I pitched at 85F, and immediately placed the wort in my fridge, where the temperature dropped slowly to 50F. After about 72 hours, I saw no activity, therefore I took it to my wine cellar to kick start it and the temperature rose back to 73-75F. Now that things are rolling, it's cooling back to 50F in my fridge.

I'll give it a 48 hour rest at 65-75F before secondary...I think I'll leave it in primary another 12 days since it took so long to get going.

Will let you know how it evolves.

 

[Delaney]

Hmmm so it's been over a week since the krausen appeared and it is still going really strong! Is this normal for a lager? I've never seen anything like this...

Should I be racking it into the secondary soon, or allow an extra 4 or 5 days for primary given the nature of the situation...I feel horrible about racking the beer when the krausen is bouncing around and having so much fun!

 

[Delaney]

Keep us updated on. How it turns out. That's the longest lag time I've ever heard of (I mean most brews are done with active by then) and im curious how that would effect the flavor

Hey,

The beer is all gone now. It turned out extremely well, this is arguably the nicest beer I've made so far. There were no detectable off flavours/aromas. I bottled after 5 weeks, but it could have been left a little longer, as there was a small amount of residue in the bottles. It was extremely smooth to drink. I am going to be more careful with my pitch rates in the future when making lager, but the effects of under-pitching seem to have been negligible. If anything it delayed drinking the beer by a week. My father who has expressed little interest in beer making loved it so much that he wants me to teach him the ways of this honey lager. It was a huge success.