Please critique my Wyeast starter/pitching/cooling techniques!

[kal]

Hi everyone!

I'm about a week into my first batch that is fermenting at considerably lower temps then room temp using a chiller.

It's a Munich Dark Lager (thebrewhouse.com all-grain wort kit) that I'm brewing using Wyeast 2308 Munich lager yeast that works best at 48-56'F so I'm fermenting the wort in a chiller set to 50'F.

My questions are basically: Should be chilling the wort down to the target temp before pitching? If not, when do I chill and how fast? Or do you chill the starter to the target temp before pitching the liquid yeast into it?

Below are the steps I took. My main concern is that fermentation was slow at starting even though I made a fairly large starter.

1. Smacked the Wyeast 2308 pack at room temp (72'C) and let it swell.

2. 18 hours later: Smack pack nicely swelled (almost rock hard). Made a 2L (1/2 gal) starter with around 200-300g of light DME. Poured the smack pack into the starter and let it ferment at 72'F.

3. 24 hours later: Starter done fermenting. Pitched entire 2L (1/2 gal) starter into wort already chilled to 60'F and placed wort in chiller set to 50'F. (Should I not have chilled the wort first?).

4. 12 hours later: Wort now chilled down to 51-52'F. (Is this too fast?)

5. 48 hours later: Bubbling every few seconds. Seems like a slow start (2-3 days)but going ok now.

I'm starting to think that I should have pitched the room temp starter into room temp wort and then slowly cooled the wort down from 72'F to 50'F over a period of 2 days or so. Make sense? Or maybe I should have chilled the starter?

Thanks guys!

Kal

 

[Evan!]

I'm no lager expert, but aren't lagers supposed to take up to a month to ferment?

 

[kal]

Yes, lagers will take longer to ferment out from what I'm told (which is good as that gives me time to drink off the other beer to make room).

I'm just curious about the procedure I used to get fermentation started and how I should have changed things...

Kal

 

[homebrewer_99]

I thought with lager yeast you were supposed to get your batch fermenting for 24 hours at room temp before placing it in the cold...

 

[anthrobe]

I thought with lager yeast you were supposed to get your batch fermenting for 24 hours at room temp before placing it in the cold...

That is what I thought as well. Start out fermenting at room temp then slowly start to cool. Something like 5 degrees every day Maybe 2 weeks to get down to lagering temp

 

[kal]

Ok, so it definitely doesn't sound like I did things right!

It's fermenting now (albeit slowly).

Kal

 

[homebrewer_99]

If it's in the cold it should be fermenting slowly.

Mine's in the garage and I don't see a thing. I can stand there for minutes and nothing. Come back in an hour and there are little bubbles in the airlock. I know something's happening.

I never saw any indication with my other batch. It should be ready to come out for a diacytl rest then bottling soon. I think it's been a couple of months already. It'll have to wait until after Turkey Day since my wife uses both kitchens during the holidays...we usually have about 30 people over.

 

[kal]

Ok, seems that people agree to disagree on this subject so I hope I haven't opened a can of worms here.

Came across this thread which has some useful information such as :

Questions by Craftbrewers Questions by Homebrewers

What temperature should I pitch a lager yeast?

There are two different methods of pitching lagers. Brewers use each method with success, but every brewer has their preference. The easiest method is (A).
A) Start the yeast warm and lower to 50-55F after the start of fermentation. The yeast should be pitched at 70 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Once you see active fermentation, bring the temperature of the wort down 10 degrees per 12 hours until the desired fermentation temperature has been achieved. This method works well without forming high amounts of esters because most esters are produced after the first 12 hours.
B) Pitch the yeast at the desired fermentation temperature (48-55 Degrees F). Lager yeast ferment well at this temperature, but they grow very slowly. If you are using this method, understand that you may not see signs of activity for 48-72 hours. If starting the fermentation cold, we recommend you make a 1-2 liter starter per 5 gallons, or if a commercial brewery, a starter 10% of the batch size.


Kal