Rookie Mistake with 2-23?

[ViciousGolden]

OK, so I'm sure I'll take some heat for this, but I could use some advice. I'm pretty new to brewing. For some reason, I got a crazy idea to do a lager.

Steeped: 8 OZ of Crystal 60
6# of Pilsner DME
2 OZ of Tettnang 60 min
.5 oz of Czech Saaz 20 min
.5 oz of Czech Saaz 5 min
.5 tsp Irish Moss 5 min

Cooled Wort to 60 degrees. Pitched S-23 Yeast. (The yeast was rehydrated with 1 cup of sterilized water at 100 degrees F about 40 min prior to pitching, lightly stirred once.) The yeast was starting to get that creamy look that I hope for with dry yeast. I"m still too much of a rookie to do liquid yeast.

Fermenter was sealed up, airlock in place, good to go. I had my fridge in the garage set and holding at 50 degrees F, which I was assured would be just fine for the S-23. However, after all temperatures have settled, the wort temperature is 45 degrees F even thought the fridge is at 50. It has been in there 36 hours and I have not seen any signs of life in the airlock. Through the fermenter, i can see a light layer on the bottom, and maybe a tiny line of a light layer on top, but it almost looks more like stuff that has just settled.

Am I being over paranoid? Is it too late? I figure I have 3 options.

1. Keep it where it is for a little while and see what happens.
2. Move it inside to my non-refrigerated ferment spot at 65 degrees F for a few days.
3. Chuck the batch and start with something new, a bit easier than a lager. maybe another proven ale recipe or extract kit.

Any words of wisdom from the masters?

 

[smakudwn]

from there website temp range for that yeast is "9-22°C (48.2-71.6°F) ideally 12-15°C (53.6-59°F)" So I would say you might want to try and warm it up a bit, maybe to 55 or so?

 

[ViciousGolden]

Unfortunately, I don't have that kind of control over. The temp. I can't get the fridge any warmer. So, it's either a 50F fridge with the wort at 45 or the 65F closet. How long would that yeast stay viable at that temp?

 

[smakudwn]

Maybe move it to the 65f closet until the fermentation starts and then move it back to the fridge? The fermentation would probably cause enough heat to keep it above 50 in the fridge.

 

[ViciousGolden]

That's kinda what I was thinking. I just didn't want to be impatient and screw up. I can move it when I get home from work and give it a few days.

 

[osagedr]

S-23 is a nice yeast; I use it frequently. It does not particularly like cold temperatures (<50) while other yeasts do not mind them a bit (W-34/70). Some observations:

(1) I typically pitch three 11.5 gram packages rehydrated for a 5.25-5.5 gallon batch. Fermentis says 200-300 grams per hectolitre under 12 degrees IIRC. Also, you should rehydrate as per the manufacturer's instructions. Google "Saflager S-23" and you will find the product sheet with proper rehydration instructions. I don't think the way you rehydrated was poor, but it's good practise to do what the manufacturer suggests.

(2) For future reference, pitch just under fermentation temperature and let the temperature rise. So next time pitch your S-23 at 50 degrees for a fermentation temperature of 52. There is a world of difference with this yeast at 48 degrees vs. 52 degrees in terms of activity. I'm a fan of slow lager fermentations but underpitching is bad practise and leads to fermentation problems and bad beer.

If you have another pack or two of S-23, then rehydrate and pitch it. One pack of S-23 probably will not work at 45 degrees. The good news is that this yeast is very clean even in the upper 50s--so if there is a way you can do it, consider using a swamp cooler for this batch. As long as your temperature is in the 50's somewhere I think you will be happy with the results.

Good luck!

 

[ViciousGolden]

OK, so here is what I ended up doing. I moved it from the fridge to my ferment space, which holds at 65 degrees. I re hydrated another pouch of S-23 and pitched it when the wort was about 55 degrees so that it could all slowly warm up together to 65. Everything started moving as expected, plenty of bubbles in the airlock and a nice layer of Kraeusen. Airlock activity slowed down after two days, and it's about a bubble ever 10 to 15 seconds now. I'm not sure exactly what my plan should be from here. I thought I would leave it for two or three weeks and then bottle/keg condition for 2 weeks, but since this is a lager, I think I need to do something different. Rack to secondary and cold crash in fridge? Longer in primary? Any suggestions?

 

[smakudwn]

If its done fermenting, I would just move it to the lagering phase.

 

[ViciousGolden]

So, rack to a carboy and get it in the fridge? How long and at what temp?

 

[smakudwn]

I do my lagers at around 40F for at least 4 weeks, all depends on the starting gravity.

 

[ViciousGolden]

Thank you so much for your help. Not sure what I was thinking with this one. Let this be a lesson....... Don't brew angry. Lol

 

[osagedr]

So, rack to a carboy and get it in the fridge? How long and at what temp?

Some people use a day per OG gravity point as a rule of thumb. I lager very close to freezing, for as long as I can stand to wait, which in some cases isn't very long. Changes occur more slowly at lower temperatures, so some people go warmer, especially if they include secondary fermentation as part of their lagering schedule.

The short answer is that a lot of serious lager brewers would say "eight weeks at 32 degrees." Practically, see how you like the effects of different times and temperatures.

 

[possum]

Some people use a day per OG gravity point as a rule of thumb.

So would that be based on the OG of the wort, say 1.045, would get a 45 day lagering? Then the higher the OG, the longer the lager?

Also, the transition from primary fermentation temp of say 55F to lagering at 35F: how long should this take? Is a gradual change of 3 degrees a day- which would add 5-7 days to secondary-time I should or should not include in the overall 45 days (for a 1.045 lager) ? Or should I just go from 55F to lagering temperature as fast as possible (overnight), immediately starting the countdown to bottling time?