Just a quick question regarding this yeast. It is the first time I used it, two packs into a 1.051 Helles. Fermenting at 50 degrees and it has been over 36 hours and not much activity at all. As usual, the yeast has settled like the others I have used, but usually it starts to circulate and the yeast will do it’s thing. This has not as of yet. Should I be worried? I am thinking of shaking the bucket a bit to get things back into suspensions but not sure if I am jumping the gun a bit. Any input would be much appreciated.
I had the same thing happen to me! I bought it direct from White Labs on-site, so I can be pretty confident it wasn’t baked or frozen along the way.
I ended up pitching another packet of lager yeast, just to be sure. I probably should have taken a gravity reading, but I was on limited time and didn’t want to mess around. I do wonder if it is just super slow to take off, or if I had bad packets.
Very slow, but some activity in the airlock. One or two bubbles every 3 to 5 seconds. I am going to take a gravity reading in another day or two and see where we are. I bumped up the temp from 50 to 51 just to see if that might help a bit.
I usually start my lagers at ~55°F wort temp, at 50% complete let it free rise to 58°F, at 75% let it free rise to 62°F, and at 90% let it free rise to 66°F. (Tasty’s Lager ferm schedule)
I hold at 66°F for the same amount of time it took to get from start to finish. If it took 4 days from OG to FG, I hold it 4 days. (Palmer’s HtB pg 94)
Sorry for the long read. Hope it works out for you.
As an update, I am now seeing a steady stream of bubbles thru the airlock. I know this isn’t a sure fire way, but it is very encouraging. I have now gone from, crap this is a loser, to heck maybe this will be ok. LOL. I will check gravity either Saturday or Sunday. If there is still a steady stream thru the airlock I will check it next week. Either way, I am hopeful this will turn out ok and I am going to try and save a mason jar of the yeast for future use. Rock On!!!
I used that yeast in a Helles last year and had a similar slow start experience compared to using the liquid version in the past. Finished off OK, but not impressed with it.
I usually make a starter, but my experience with using dry yeast directly is that it is pretty unpredictable what lagtime I get even if I’m using the same yeast. One more reason to make a starter:).
I’ve never had problems caused by longer lagtime, though - it’s just that even so I get nervous when it happens.
As an update it started a few days ago and was moving along nicely. Not blowing the lid off the fermenter, but steady stream of bubbles. Opened the fermenting fridge yesterday and was hit with a sulpher smell that was very strong. I am probably into about my fourth or fifth day of active fermentation so I thought I read somewhere that it is about time to let the yeast rise to room temps? I know this smell with play itself out, but man was it strong.
Did a quick gravity check. Started at 1.051 about 8 days ago. Currently at 1.029. According to Brewfather it should finish about 1.014, but I was a few points high on my OG, so my FG probably will be in the 1.016 to .018 range I am guessing. Being that it has really only started showing activity about 3 to 4 days ago, I am not completely surprised. I go back to work this week so I am won’t touch it again until next sunday at the earliest. This is all very new to me as most of my yeasts start within 24 hours and finish within 3 or 4 days. But in the air of what I tell others, patience is a virtue. LOL
When I’m drinking a fresh German Lagerbier in Bavaria I often get a whiff of sulfur. That’s a sign of freshness the Germans appreciate. The sulfur smell disappears quickly.
measure the pH. If it drops, then the fermentation is active. If vitality is low, it may take a bit more time, but your ferment is on it’s way nevertheless. I always check pH during fermentation.
Thank you all for the info. I don’t have a PH meter unfortunately. I checked the gravity again and it is at 1.011 or so. That is what Grainfather and Brewfather say the FG should be in range of, so I will check again and see how it goes in a day or two. I got no sulphur smell and it had a very lagerish taste with no butter or popcorn taste that I could detect. All told, it took about 3 weeks to ferment with about a 48 hour lag time. Not something I am used to, but if the beer comes out good, then I am ok with it. LOL. Like I have a choice.
I got no sulphur smell and it had a very lagerish taste with no butter or popcorn taste that I could detect.
Take a sample and let it warm up.
If you have the time or gumption, you could heat up a 4 or 6 ounce sample to 120f - turn off the heat - let it sit for 20 minutes - cool the sample in an ice bath - then give it a big whiff. That is a VDK test, which is a precursor to diacetyl (butter/popcorn). Or, you can leave a sample out at room temperature for a while and see what off flavors appear.
I’ve been burnt on not giving my lagers a diacetyl rest many many times.
I have used both the dry and liquid version of this yeast and find it to be a slow starter. It’s usually 3 days before I see signs of a krausen starting to form. This was the case even when I made a starter with the liquid version. While I know this is Augustiner’s strain, it makes me wonder if it’s origins trace back to a Czech yeast, as it has the same lag time that most Czech strains I use do.
I’ve given up on the dry WLP860 from Lallemand. One pack of Omega OYL-114 (same strain) with a small starter gives me a bigger pitch and faster fermentation than two of WLP860, reliably. I’ve never gotten the same performance from the Lallemand version, and they’re charging a pretty penny for that stuff. If you use Lallemand’s calculator online, they recommend pitching THREE packs into a standard 1.050, 5 gallon batch of lager. That’s insanity when one pack of Bayern is $10.
