No Signs of Fermentation-Yet

[Wfu1bunn]

Brewed an Oskar Blues Beerito (lager) clone which called for pitching a Wyeast 2352 Munich lager II yeast and to pitch it after yeast cooled to 50 degrees. Which I did but after 2 days there is no sign of fermentation. Actually pitched two packages. Should I worry or does this yeast take a while to get started? Did not make yeast starter.

Thanks.

 

[mongoose33]

I assume you mean you pitched it after the wort cooled to 50 degrees?

You'll usually find the recommendation on pitching lager yeast to do so at warmer temps and then take it down to your fermentation temp. If the wort was 50 degrees and the yeast was 50 degrees, it's going to take a long time for that yeast to get going.

You can see this in the following from White Labs:

https://www.whitelabs.com/faq/brewing/what-temperature-should-i-pitch-lager-yeast

Yours will go at some point, but as they note above, it will take 48-72 hours for activity to appear.

One other consideration: how did you oxygenate your wort?

*********

I always pitch lager yeast about 70 degrees, wait 6+ hours at that temp, then begin ramping down to 50 degrees. That gets the yeast going before I slow it down at the lower temp.

 

[Wfu1bunn]

Yes it was 50. Oxegynated but not as much as I wanted as I ran out of oxygen.

Recommend oxygenating more and raising temp?

 

[balrog]

Wait another day or two.

 

[brew703]

Warm your temps if you wave a way to do that.
I pitched lager yeast at 50 not long ago and it started with 12 hrs but I made a starter.

 

[kh54s10]

I assume you mean you pitched it after the wort cooled to 50 degrees?

You'll usually find the recommendation on pitching lager yeast to do so at warmer temps and then take it down to your fermentation temp. If the wort was 50 degrees and the yeast was 50 degrees, it's going to take a long time for that yeast to get going.

You can see this in the following from White Labs:

https://www.whitelabs.com/faq/brewing/what-temperature-should-i-pitch-lager-yeast

Yours will go at some point, but as they note above, it will take 48-72 hours for activity to appear.

One other consideration: how did you oxygenate your wort?

*********

I always pitch lager yeast about 70 degrees, wait 6+ hours at that temp, then begin ramping down to 50 degrees. That gets the yeast going before I slow it down at the lower temp.

I agree with this process as long as the temperature is taken down as soon as ANY signs of fermentation show.

But in another thread I read today someone was adamant that doing it this way was a very bad idea - interesting that both came up today.

 

[mongoose33]

I agree with this process as long as the temperature is taken down as soon as ANY signs of fermentation show.

But in another thread I read today someone was adamant that doing it this way was a very bad idea - interesting that both came up today.

If you can point me to that thread, I'd appreciate it.

I've been doing it this way for 2 or 3 years now, and judging by others' reactions to my beer, it doesn't do a single thing that's harmful to the flavor.

I have some info from White Labs somewhere about pitching lager yeast warm and letting it sit for a while before taking it down.

I agree, if you let it begin active fermentation before taking it down, there may be a price to pay. But the lag phase is fairly long, and that's the part that's being accelerated by leaving the wort warm.

 

[Wfu1bunn]

Still no activity. Have another pack of the yeast and made a starter and thought I’d oxygenate again and pitch it.

 

[Wfu1bunn]

Brought temp up to 70.

 

[jdauria]

Lagers don't show as much of a krausen as ales do and also take longer to really show a sign of fermentation due to the cooler temps. Lagers also need a lot more yeast that ales...depending on your starting OG and the date of the yeast, you probably still did not have enough yeast, which then would need even a longer lag time to get started. For example, say you have 5 gallons at 1.056...using Brewer's Friend yeast calculator...you need 392 billion yeast cells...but two packs of yeast, even if they were just packaged today, would only at max give you 200 billion cells, so you would be underpitched by almost 50%. The older the yeast, the more your may have underpitched. Making starters for lagers really helps getting to the proper pitch count.

I would not oxygenate again. Take a gravity reading, if it's gone down at all, it's fermenting slowly...so adding more oxygen now would not be good.