Too cold to ferm?

[mobius1ski]

Hey y'all,

I brewed a rauchbier Sunday from a Northern Brewer ME kit.

I couldn't get the recommended Wyeast locally so I substituted the Wyeast 2206 with a White Labs WLP820, as suggested by several online conversion charts.

After pitching my yeast and tossing in some yeast nutrient, I put it up on my back porch, where the weather's been in the low 50s, high 40s for the past few days.

The recipe says it should take 24-48 to start active fermentation, but I noticed yesterday that I was getting no activity out of the airlock. I just checked now and saw that there's no krausen whatosever.

Did I screw up by putting it out in the cold too soon? Aren't lagers cold fermented? Is it salvageable if I move it into a warmer space?

What did I do wrong and can I recover?

Thanks

 

[jdub1782]

Did you make a starter? If so, then you would know that the yeast is active. What temperature was the wort when you pitched?

Let it go a couple more days, it should be fine. If not bring it inside for a day to warm up a little bit. A couple extra days before a beginning fermentation should be Ok as long as everything has been sanitzed.

I have normally kept my lagers in the low 60's for the first 24 hours, but am considering going directly to 50 degrees because I have been getting off flavors. I am thinking that I am am starting at too high a temp.

 

[mobius1ski]

I didn't use a starter, no.

 

[jcam91]

If it's been over 48 hours bring I inside let it warm up. If that does not work, dont freak out, your beer is still fine, just buy some dry yeast and pitch it directly into fermenter.

 

[fall-line]

That temperature range should be ok for that yeast. It prefers to be 52-58°F according to white labs, but a little on the low side should be ok for it. They also say that this yeast strain takes longer than most to get through the initial stages of active fermentation, See: http://www.whitelabs.com/beer/strains_wlp820.html

For next time, it is almost always recommended to use a started when working with a lager yeast. The bigger the starter the better.

 

[m_stodd]

Some info on your specific yeast: http://www.whitelabs.com/beer/strains_wlp820.html

Yeast companies are pretty good with providing rather detailed information about their yeast. I assume you messed up by fermenting too cold, but the spec sheet also says that it's a slow starter. I would try to get the yeast into suspension by just swirling the fermenter around a bit, then put it some place cool for a few days. Another mistake you made was not making the yeast starter (again from the spec sheet). If your wort is rather high gravity, you might just want to get another pack of your yeast, make a starter, and pitch in a few days.

 

[dadshomebrewing]

bring it inside until it starts fermenting (probably a day or two).

you will be fine

 

[mobius1ski]

Thanks all! That helps immensely!

 

[david_42]

I always pitch a lager yeast warm and cool it once the fermentation has started.