Pitching temp for dry lager yeast

[Skinner]

I'm brewing a lager this weekend, an attempted Creemore Springs clone. I'll be fermenting at 54F and will use 2 packages of Saflager S23. I'll rehydrate the yeast as per my usual method (95F sanitized water, sprinkle in yeast, wait 15 minutes, stir it up, wait again, pitch when ready). Because of the low fermentation temps should I cool the rehydrated yeast before pitching? I don't want to shock the yeast but I'm concerned that cooling the rehydrated yeast might do the same thing.

Cheers!
K

 

[COLObrewer]

Just pitch it when the wort and yeast reach equilibrium (same temp.) Two schools of thought on fermentation however, some start fermentation at higher temps, some simply place it in the "cooler" right away after pitching. I do the later.

 

[jjones17]

I *HIGHLY* reccomend cooling that wort down to your ferment temps then pitch. I have used that yeast twice, and both times I hated the results. The beer tasted like a pineapple/strawberry pina-colada cooler. Disgusting. Others like the yeast, just me. Anyway, the first batch I pitched at 70F and lowered temp to 55. The second time I pitched at 60F lowered to 52F. Maybe it will be better starting low? Who knows. Good luck! I love brewing lagers....

 

[mrk305]

I am using this yeast for my first time, too. I pitched at 63 degrees and then lowered the temp to 50, and that is where I am holding it. How long does this stuff take to ferment? I usually ferment with Notty ale yeast at 66 degrees for 4 weeks. Does it have to remain at 50 for all 4 weeks or should it be warmed up a little near the end?

 

[jjones17]

4 weeks should do it. Search Diacetyl Rest - this is what you should be doing with most lager yeasts. You bring up the temp when the vigor of the fermentation subsides somewhat. Don't wait too long, but do not do it too early either. Just for a few days, then back to the cold.

 

[mrk305]

Thanks. I did some searching yesterday looking for Saflager s23 and only found a little. Today I was doing a search using "lager" and found a bunch, including this thread. I was getting confused with some posters saying to warm it up at the end and others saying cold lager at the end.

I found a few better threads on diacetyl rest this evening. Now I understand it. Wait until the main fementation is pretty much finished and then warm it up for a while and then cool it back down for the finish.

This will be similar to Revvy's Vienna Lager recipe posted in 2009.

 

[waldoar15]

I've used both S-23 and W-34/70. The later is probably the cleaner of the two. I just pitch into the fermentation range. So far, none of the beers I've brewed with those have required a D rest. But I did them anyway.

If you go to the Fermentis web site and read the PDF, S-23 is described as fruity, estery. So, you may not like the end results.

 

[mrk305]

I did go to Saflager's website. I underpitched, too. The website says one packet is enough for 5 gallon batch. I am reading on HBT that I should have used two as recomended by MrMalty.

It is starting real slow. It has very little if any airlock activity even after two days. I have a half gallon mini fermentor of the same wort bubbling like normal with ale yeast. If this doesn't get going by tommorow I am thinking of dumping that in there.

The only reason I decided to try this was because the LHBS was out of my usual Nottingham ale yeast. We had a big snowstorm in Atlanta and they did not get any stock that week. At this point I am wishing that I had done something else like starting this batch with trub from the batch I bottled on brew day. Oh well, patience.....

 

[mrk305]

I am drinking this one today. It was so cold in GA when I brewed this that I was able to maintain 50 degrees just by fermenting in my unheated utility room next to the water heater.

It was real slow to take off, and then it bubbled for ten days. After four weeks I brought it inside for two days, long enough to warm up to 66 and then back outside to chill for another couple weeks. Then I kegged it and it has been in the keezer for a few weeks.

Thanks to all that helped me with this one. Trying a new type of lagering yeast made me feel like a noob. It is 83 degrees today and I am drinking my first homebrewed lager.

 

[dpr21081]

S23 is a Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast not a Saccharomyces pastorianus...although it is a "bottom-cropping" lager yeast. Thus by definition it is suited to warmer temperatures than most lager yeasts. I am unsure given it is a Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain of yeast how or why its manufacturers specify 12C-15C as its ideal temperature. (12C is pretty cold!) I have had good results with this yeast at temperatures of at least 15C up to 20C. In fact I would go so far as to say I have had bad results at 12C.