Built a fermentation chamber and needed something to try it out so I brewed Munich Madness (Munich Madness - Beer Recipe - American Homebrewers Association) from the AHA site. Following the directions I pitched 1 smack pack of Wyeast 2206, that never really swelled that much. It is apparently a slow starter, and it was about 3 months old. After not seeing much activity in the airlock (it bubbled about once a minute) for the first several days/week, I decided that I may have underpitched the yeast, even though I was just following directions. So I got 2 more packs of 2206 and smacked them to get them started. Checked the chamber and now there is much more rapid bubbling and krausen beginning to form. My question- should I pitch the additional yeast, or just let things progress as they are? Pros? Cons? Thanks in advance for any advice!
If you had a slow start that eventually started, it is now probably too late to pitch more yeast. But, since you’ve got it, have at 'er. No telling what you might end up with now. Might be great, might not. About 50/50 odds, I would say.
You probably know this, but, just in case… It’s not too late to keep the 2 extra smack packs you purchased but didn’t pitch for a future batch. Even though you have already smacked them the yeast inside is still good.
Interesting- how long will they last and would I need to do anything to them before I use them?
Wyeast guarantees the yeast is good for 6 months. There is a manufacturing date on the package.
The longer you go the more yeast cells die. You can use an online yeast calculator like Mr. Malty to estimate how many cells are left based on the manufacturing date.
You can revive old yeast with a yeast starter. Yeast starters are a good idea almost all the time. They are always needed for lagers (unless you’re pitching many packs).
So I went with the do nothing approach and let it go- gave it an extra week to ferment to make up for the week that it took to get started. And…it finished! SG on 9/5/15 was 1.014, nice and clear, and no discernible off flavors- in fact, it tastes pretty good!
I’d like to bottle it so I can give some to friends- anything different about bottling a lager?
None that I have seen in my lagers so far, but I have been bottle conditioning and then lagering after receiving that advice here on the forum
No, nothing different. Bottle like normal.