uncontrolled temperature fermentation Lager yeast

Yes that is the yeast. I did not rehydrate and I did not make a starter. Take care.

 

That brick gives me a chuckle everytime.

 

Personally, I use shakti stones to weigh down my bucket* lids.


I find that not only do they make the beer taste better, but my fermentation room stereo sounds better too.

*Disclaimer: I don't ferment in a bucket.

 

This is a great video, thanks so much for sharing. As a lager lover that doesn't have the equipment to actually lager my home brews, I have been trying to find ways to make pseudo-lagers for a while now. I assumed pitching something like Wyeast 2124 and letting it sit at 60 degrees would produce some weird flavors. This video and some of the responses in this thread are suggesting that it may indeed work well. The hallway in the front of my house isn't heated by any radiators, so it is the coldest spot in my home. If I were to leave a carboy with Wyeast 2124 in such an area, how long do you think it would take until it was ready to be bottled? Obviously this depends on a lot of things, but I am really just looking for a ball park. I will check the temp of this area of my house tonight, I assumed it is around 60.

 

With proper yeast count and enough O2, lagers don't take all that much longer than ales in my experience - complete fermentation in ~ 14 days.

 

How do I know what the "proper yeast count" is for a beer?

 

Try one of the calculators. Basically, you want to target some pitch rate in terms of cells per volume per gravity.

 

Folks around here seem to rely on this http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

 

Jesse, I am confident that you will receive responses to utilize a yeast calculator like the one on the Mr. Malty website to provide the ‘answer’ of “proper yeast count”. There are a number of inaccuracies/conservative assumptions in the Mr. Malty yeast calculator which will result in an ‘answer’ of yeast count larger than necessary to have a healthy fermentation.

The Wyeast website provides information on a proper yeast count based upon beer style (lager vs. ale), pitch temperature and original gravity. Below is what they state for Lager pitch rates:

“Pitch Rate:

Lagers typically have a reduced ester profile and are characterized as clean with discernable malt character. It is very important to recognize that pitch rate is directly related to ester production. Increasing the quantity of yeast pitched is the most effective method of reducing the ester profile in the finished beer. A minimum of 12 million cells per milliliter is recommended to keep esters at a minimum.

One Wyeast Activator pack will deliver about 6 million cells per milliliter to 5 gallons of wort. In order to increase this rate to 12 million cells per milliliter it is necessary to either pitch two Activators or to make a 0.5 gallon (2 liter) starter with an Activator. If a starter is made using a Propagator (50ml package) then the starter needs to be 1 gallon (3.78 liters) to achieve 12 million cells per ml.”

For a moderate gravity lager (e.g., 1.050) which you will pitch at around 60°F, Wyeast would suggest that you need something like 200 billion yeast cells of Wyeast 2124. You can obtain this by pitching two smack packs (assuming they are relatively fresh like 1-2 months old) or you could make a starter to double the number of cells from a single smack pack.

Cheers!

 

Thanks Jack, I remember you mentioned this to me before. Much appreciated.
What do you think of me trying out a czech pils or german pils recipe with Wyeast 2124 and letting it ferment in the chilliest area of my house (probably around 60)?

 

Or you could use one of the calculators. Not everyone thinks they are inaccurate and conservative. And they take the guesswork out of it. Ignoring the specific gravity and not even attempting to estimate and adjust for viability (a function of age) doesn't result in a defined target pitch rate at all.

Two smackpacks for a 1.050 lager is underpitching IMO. Even with fresh-off-the-packaging-line packs. Even with the 120B-130B cells (that's a 20%-30% bonus!) Jack believes is in each smackpack.

 

I'm no JackHorzempa but you'd be able to get low 50's with a swamp cooler and minimal effort...you'd only have to do it for 7-10 days and then the low 60's would work perfectly for diacetyl rest...

 

@Providence : Even if you believe that Mr. Malty's or YeastCalc's assumtions are conservative, I'd recommend using something other than rules of thumb or yeast manufacturer website dumbed-down pablum to calculate your pitch. My BrewCipher sheet will do that, and it will let you change any assumption you want.

 

Swamp cooler, eh? Like putting the carboy in a bucket with cold water (possibly iced) and running a fan on it?

 

I don't think you even need the fan...some folks just put a t-shirt over the carboy which wicks enough for evaporative cooling.

 

And are you icing the water regularly?

 

Exactly, I find it difficult to maintain between sleeping at night and being gone during the day, I'd love to hear strategies from people with more success with it though.

 

For those with the space, you can often find a craigslist/yard sale chest freezer for $25 or less. Add a Temp Controller for $75 or less, and you're in business for under a hundred bucks. You'll wonder why you ever messed around with wet T-Shirts.

 

“What do you think of me trying out a czech pils or german pils recipe with Wyeast 2124 and letting it ferment in the chilliest area of my house (probably around 60)?”

Jesse, my comment is to give it a try and see what happens. I think that brewing a Pilsner using Wyeast 2124 at 60°F will likely produce a tasty beer.

I feel the need to provide the caveat that while I have brewed with 2124 many times (about 30+ batches) I have always used the yeast to produce ‘classical’ lagers; fermented at 50°F and then lagered cold (e.g., less than 40°F) for a period of time (6-7 weeks for 1.050 gravity beers). Since I have zero experience in fermenting 2124 at 60°F I have no firsthand knowledge here.

An ‘experiment’ that you could conduct with the beer you will brew is to place a number of bottles (assuming that you bottle) of you Pilsner (after they are carbonated) in your home refrigerator for long term lagering and see for yourself what lagering doesyou’re your beer.

It has been intimated that I “believe” what brewing scientists (microbiologists) who work in the brewer’s yeast industry state, to which I plead guilty. Below is a quote from an article published in BYO:

“Wyeast’s 125 mL Activator packs are advertised to contain 100 billion cells, but actually average around 120–130 billion cells, according to Les Perkins, microbiologist and quality control manager for Wyeast.”

Jesse, you can decide for yourself whether you want to believe what Les Perkins stated concerning the number of yeast cells in a Wyeast Smack Pack.

Good luck with your Pilsner!

Cheers!

Jack

 

Thank you Jack, much appreciated as always.