My second lager.

[Randomnoob]

I decided to brew a Dopplebock after having a lot of fun and success with my first lager last winter. My basement garage is usually between 48 and 54. The lowest I've seen it was 44 and that's when it was about -20 outside. There's nothing like that coming up anytime soon.

So the Monday before New Years I bought the ingredients and was set to brew on New Years Day. Then the flu hit. And then a cold. Before I knew it, it was 2 and a half weeks later. I made the yeast starter from Wyeast Bavarian Lager 2206. Even though it was in the fridge the whole time before I made the starter, the packet didn't swell up at all. It was on the stir plate for a day and in the fridge for a day. I brewed it, got an OG of 1.068 and chilled it to 55 degrees. I put the yeast in, put the airlock on the carboy and let it start fermenting. That was last Sunday.

On Tuesday, I went in to my garage to finish cleaning everything and there was no activity in the carboy. There was a yeast cake at the bottom though. A few more days and still nothing going on. I started to wonder if I had a bad packet of yeast. Then this morning, I took the recycling in there and I saw the airlock bubbling away. I took the blanket off carboy and there was foam at the top.

Last year with my first lager it had active fermentation the next afternoon. Is it normal for active fermentation to take over a week to start?

 

[kombat]

Is it normal for active fermentation to take over a week to start?

No. You likely underpitched, under-aerated, or the temperature was too low.

How big of a starter did you make? How did you aerate the wort?

 

[wardens355]

Did your starter krausen? I had a smack pack that didn't swell up and it took 48 hours for the starter to kick into gear. If your starter was similar (no krausen, little activity) and you pitched it, it would take a long time for the yeast to multiply since lagers need a lot more yeast to get going than ales.

 

[Randomnoob]

I usually aerate it by pouring it out of the boil pot in to the bucket through the strainer and then with this I dumped it in to the carboy through a strainer. I shook it for a few minutes.

The yeast did not krausen at all. It was the first time using a stir plate, which I got for Christmas and I just figured that when you have a stir plate it doesn't krausen...

 

[wardens355]

I usually aerate it by pouring it out of the boil pot in to the bucket through the strainer and then with this I dumped it in to the carboy through a strainer. I shook it for a few minutes.

The yeast did not krausen at all. It was the first time using a stir plate, which I got for Christmas and I just figured that when you have a stir plate it doesn't krausen...

They will generally krausen. Mine get nice and foamy, and will actually blow out the top of my flask if I don't use FermCap. Did the starter look cloudy, or did it look like wort still? You can also tell by the smell. If the starter still smells like fresh wort, your yeast probably isn't growing yet. Sounds like you probably underpitched significantly. Next time make sure that your starter is off to the races before crashing it in the fridge.

 

[Randomnoob]

Oh ok. It looked like wort still, but it smelled like yeast so I figured it was ok to use.

I made a starter a month ago with krausen going 2/3 of the way to the top of the falsk. It was from harvested 1056 yeast. So I guess try to get something like that from now on.

 

[solbes]

Does sound like a yeast issue. With Bocks and DoppleBocks, I like to pitch a portion of the cake from a previous smaller lager. I brewed a Vienna with a large starter. Then washed about 2/3-3/4 of the yeast cake from that and pitched into my 1.075 Bock/Dopple (Somewhere in between).

That baby showed activity 4 hours in and was bubbling away 6 hours later. This with chilling the wort to 46, pitching, and then letting it warm up to 48F.

 

[wardens355]

Oh ok. It looked like wort still, but it smelled like yeast so I figured it was ok to use.

I made a starter a month ago with krausen going 2/3 of the way to the top of the falsk. It was from harvested 1056 yeast. So I guess try to get something like that from now on.

Some yeasts do not form a large krausen (1056 usually forms a giant krausen for me too). My advice would be to keep an eye on the starter and look for it to become more creamy as the yeast multiply.

What volume was your starter? The starters I make for lagers are usually in the 2-3 L range to produce enough cells to get fermentation started quickly.

 

[JAG107]

Does sound like a yeast issue. With Bocks and DoppleBocks, I like to pitch a portion of the cake from a previous smaller lager. I brewed a Vienna with a large starter. Then washed about 2/3-3/4 of the yeast cake from that and pitched into my 1.075 Bock/Dopple (Somewhere in between).

That baby showed activity 4 hours in and was bubbling away 6 hours later. This with chilling the wort to 46, pitching, and then letting it warm up to 48F.

You got it. Both of the Doppels I've made were with 833 slurry from a dunkel or Bock batch. They were off and bubbling within 4-6 hours and pitched below 55 degrees. Doppels have by definition a high gravity and need lots and lots of happy yeast cells.

 

[mkeckjr]

Just an added note: this yeast you're using (which is purportedly Weihenstephan's W-206 strain from their bank, and is the same as WLP820) is a notoriously slow starter, generally prefers higher temperatures that other lager strains, and benefits heavily from an even larger pitch rate than other lager strains. I have had innumerable problems with this yeast strain, and documented one particular split batch here. So if you under pitched for a normal lager strain (which I usually aim for 1.5 million cells per milliter per degree Plato of wort) then you significantly under pitched for a first generation of this yeast strain.

Because of the finicky nature of this strain, I have stopped using it completely, and favor any one of the readily available versions of the W-34/70 strain or WLP833, the Ayinger strain. Both of those perform really well for me.

 

[solbes]

I used WY2206 for my two recent lagers mentioned above. I thought they tasted pretty good at racking and got up and running quickly and easily. I fermented both at 48 which I consider on the cool side and they went to D rest on day 6, so pretty quick as well.

But I always have a huge pitch for lagers, after my first 2 batches being so-so with 2-3L yeast starters. I haven't had a clear favorite between WY2308, Saf 34/70, and WY2206. But I'm thinking it might be the latter after these two are ready for drinking.

 

[Randomnoob]

Just an added note: this yeast you're using (which is purportedly Weihenstephan's W-206 strain from their bank, and is the same as WLP820) is a notoriously slow starter, generally prefers higher temperatures that other lager strains, and benefits heavily from an even larger pitch rate than other lager strains. I have had innumerable problems with this yeast strain, and documented one particular split batch here. So if you under pitched for a normal lager strain (which I usually aim for 1.5 million cells per milliter per degree Plato of wort) then you significantly under pitched for a first generation of this yeast strain.

Because of the finicky nature of this strain, I have stopped using it completely, and favor any one of the readily available versions of the W-34/70 strain or WLP833, the Ayinger strain. Both of those perform really well for me.

Ah, I see. I just hadn't used that strain before (I made an Fauxtoberfest and last years lager with Bohemian Lager 2124) and just wanted to try it out. I guess that will be the last time I use it.