If it took you 3 weeks to get from 1.064 to 1.022, then you didn't pitch nearly enough healthy yeast. So you either underpitched or your yeast were in really really bad shape. Lagers should take 7-10 days total. Your beer will probably be fine, but just realize this was far from ideal.Anyway the original recipe calls to raise the temp after three weeks for a diacetyl rest. That would start today. I decided to take a sample before raising the temp. It is at 1.022. Expected FG is 1.014.
So my question is whether I should wait for the FG at 50f or let the diacetyl rest take it to FG from here.
I've found that WY 2308 finishes all over the board, so you might even be at FG of 1.022. Or it might finish at 1.014. Have to wait and see.I'm just not sure if a higher OG in a situation like this should result in a Higher FG, I don't think so, but ...
The d-rest should begin when you're 10-20% away from completion. You are at or past that point.And I'm not sure if the expectation is that the FG will be reached before the diacetyl rest or after.
A taste test now tells you nothing about diacetyl!! You have to do a proper diacetyl test, which involves heating a sample. (please google it). Your beer may contain diacetyl precursors, which after being exposed to a bit of oxygen (such as in the bottling / kegging process), will turn into diacetyl. Quite common for a beer to turn into a diacetyl bomb after 3 weeks in the keg. That's why I just do 5-day d-rests across the board.honestly I'm not detecting any diacetyl in the sample, it tasted very clean and neutral, not bitter or sweet. I think it'll be a success either way!
If it took you 3 weeks to get from 1.064 to 1.022, then you didn't pitch nearly enough healthy yeast. So you either underpitched or your yeast were in really really bad shape. Lagers should take 7-10 days total. Your beer will probably be fine, but just realize this was far from ideal.
Typically, the d-rest will ferment the last 10-20%. You're already at that point, so bring up the temp to 63-65 and leave it there for the remainder (3-5 days).
That's why I just do 5-day d-rests across the board.
Yup, there it is. 1 packet with 1 gal starter isn't enough for a 10-gal batch. (I haven't run the numbers but suspect it's not even close). And cold crashing for a week really puts yeast to sleep -- the worst fermentations I've had were because of cold crashing the lager yeast. A "vitality starter" can help rouse them after cold crashing. But still, you didn't have enough to start with.I have to say that is really interesting. I've never pitched so much yeast for any ale. I had a fresh packet from the LHBS and then I made a 1 gallon starter, which I cold crashed for about a week before the brew day. Hurricane Irma came through on the weekend I had planned to brew so that delayed everything. The fermentation activity did seem sort of sedate. Usually with an Ale I'll get a period of 3 to 4 days of crazy activity and then it'll slow down to something more consistent. With this lager it was more like the later activity you might see in an ale. A few bubbles every 10 seconds or so. It seemed slow, but I thought it was because it was a lager.
Thanks for the guidance. I'll bring up the temp tonight.
You'll have to play around with the yeast calculators online. You're probably around half the recommended cell count, which in my experience can be ok if you can keep the yeast happy. BUT cold crashing for a week really makes them unhappy. Generally you need AT LEAST one pack of yeast for every 5 gals, so you should have used 2. And a vitality starter the day of pitching. And that's assuming the yeast packs weren't old, and were stored well.So with 2308 what would be the recommended starter for a 10 gal batch? two consecutive 1 gal starters? three? I guess it's just my inexperience with lager's but it seems like a ton of yeast, given that a 1 liter starter on ale's has been sufficient.
Edit: I just noticed your question above. I'm assuming that the 1 gal starter was your largest vessel for starters? If so the calculator is recommending a 3 step starter for this beer. Step 1 = 1L, step 2 = 4L and step 3 = 3L. That would get you up to 970 billion cells which is a good, healthy pitch.
This is a good yeast calculator, if any of the fields turns red you are outside of best practices for growing yeast.
http://www.brewunited.com/yeast_calculator.php
most likely one packet of yeast in a gallon starter is too big of a jump and multi step start might be better. If you don't have a minimal yeast to wort density the yeast can get stressed.
Actually, brewing a 5-gal batch then pitching your 10 gal on that yeast cake is best!ok, so starting with a 2L first round is the best bet and then stepping up to another gallon.
Personally, I would just use the W34/70; its a nice, neutral lager yeast. Two packs usually does the job.
I posted a thread several days ago about my process. That way you don't have to decant at all. I make the starter from the wort I am gonna use. Read up on it here.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=631830
Personally doing a vitality starter on brew days would make me nervous, I have had some yeast that take a good day to get going. I would rather wake up cold yeast then have wort sitting waiting for yeast. But to each their own.
For someone starting out I say do thing to establish best practice guideline and once you have a some experience to know what is normal then deviate.
Multi step is not a big deal if you have a large enough vessel and time, just pitch current step into the next step and continue. I cold crash all the time and don't notice bad side effects. Fridges don't get much colder than the wort they will fermenting, decant, pitch and oxygenate. My lagers finish in 7-10 days and that is with a 2 to 3 day diacetyl reset. Normally 36 to 48 hrs post pitch a medium gravity lager will be over 50% to target attenuation, another couples days and it is done attenuation.
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