I brewed a Yuengling clone on Sunday, its now Thursday. I not only have no airlock activity (not unexpected), but I have no visible krausen. Is it normal for there to be absolutely no signs for a lager? I pitched at about 65 but it got rather cold during the night and my lagerator is in my uninsulated garage. The thermometer on the fridge read 47 degrees and the carboy thermometer read just above 50 degrees. Did I crash the yeast?
Which yeast?
White labs American Lager Yeast
How much did you pitch? Have you checked the gravity?
Not sure of exact numbers but I created a 1 quart starter. I haven’t checked the gravity yet, no.
not nearly enough yeast. most people that brew lagers a lot use more like 1 gallon starters
i brew almost only lagers, i almost never see airlock activity or krausen to any degree as long as i keep my temps cold. after about 3 weeks in the bucket i can see a little ring around the edge.
That’s reassuring. My lager experience is limited. I’ve only done 4, and 2 of them used the San Francisco Lager yeast, which I didn’t need to keep as cold.
but keep in mind, you seriously underpitched so you are most likely going to have problems at that temp. See the pitching temp at www.mrmalty.com to see what size starter you need for your lagers.
With under-pitching combined with low temperature, you’re going to have a long lag time. Assuming there was activity in the starter so that you know you have viable yeast, all you can do now is wait it out.
I went home for lunch and lo and behold there is now a low krausen. Thanks guys! I was overreacting. This batch is supposed to be a gift for a friend of mine and I would have been mortified if I’d ruined it.