Salvaging a brew

This is a yeast problem.

On Saturday, just this past weekend, about 42 hours ago, I brewed a Germain-style lager, following all the directions I got from Monster Brew, where I got my ingredient kit from.

Well, it turns out the lagering yeast is dead. I have had no activity since Saturday.
This morning, I cracked the seal on the fermenting vat and saw no signs of out-gassing. The beer smells fine, however. I brought it into the kitchen so I could re-pitch some yeast, in an effort to salvage the brew.

The only yeast I have left, however, is a liquid ale yeast, which should work fine, as long as I warm up the brew to at least 70 degrees. (It's at 65 degrees right now). To do this, I'm going to stir the brew well and then pour some of it into my kettle and warm it up some, and then pour it back into the vat and check to make sure my temperature is in range for the ale yeast. Then pitch the yeast and aerate the brew well, and hope for the best.

I do have a call in to Monster Brew for messing up my order for the second time in a row, but in the meantime, this is the best way I know how to try to save my beer.
Is there any other advice anyone could offer?

Thanks.

By the way, I'm new to this forum, but have been brewing off and on for years.

Tony

 

I thought there was a greater urgency than that. I only have a short window here in the Southwest, when the temps are ideal for lager yeast. I'll only be able to do lagers for another month at the most, maybe, depending on how quickly the heat rolls in here. I don't have a way to externally regulate the wort temperature as it's fermenting...but I might have to look into that. Like maybe an old refridgerator that I can set at the ideal temp and let the vat ferment in there.

I just pitched an ale yeast in it, after mixing it back up and warming part of the brew in a kettle to get the combined temp up to 75 degrees. This was after getting a call from Monster Brew and them recommending me to do so.
I need to get an order in for some extra yeast packets though, so I have them on hand. This was the last yeast I had, so if this doesn't work, I'm screwed. As it is, this will end up being kind of a weird ale, but if it works, I'm fine with it. I'll have to order up another lager and try again.

I will remember to let lager sit at least 3 days in the future before I panic, but there really was no sign that this yeast was the least bit alive. No sign of foaming at the top either, after 2 days of waiting.

 

Considering that this is the second order in a row that was messed up from them, I am considering a different source for my brewing needs. I was already at 65 degrees and would have left it at 65 if I knew that wasn't too cool for the yeast. Well, I guess all there is left to do is wait this one out and see.
I am now out of yeast and by the time a new batch of yeast comes in, I'd probably have to dump this one if it doesn't work out.

From now on, I'm going to order extra yeast and have some on hand at all times.
If this batch starts bubbling, I'll let you all know.
Thanks...

 

Magoon, no, you're incorrect.
I asked at just after 8 in the morning.
Then I was notified of a delay while the administrator reviewed my message for posting.
Thinking this was an extremely urgent matter, I also notified Monster Brew, where I bought the ingredients from.
I got the call back from Monster Brew before my post was posted to this forum, about 3+ hours before any of you responded to me.

So if you want to split hairs, it takes too long to get a message posted on this forum, and I don't appreciate the accusatory nature of your message. I could just as easily quit this forum and do things on my own, like I have for the last 20 or so years. But I thought the brewing community could be a useful way to continue my learning experience. I'm not some 18 year old kid that needs to be lectured by you!
(Sorry you guys, but his tongue-lashing really annoyed me).

Okay, back to my brew. It began outgassing finally, during the night!
But it is not bubbling at the rapid rate in the first few days that I am used to.
I don't know if it's because of the lager yeast with its slower nature, or if my liquid yeast that I also got from Monster Brew was also bad. I guess that wouldn't surprise me.
The good news is, it's bubbling finally, almost 50 hours after it was brewed. So I'll keep an eye on it.

I have never had a brew fail, and I hope this won't be my first.
Oh and, Monster Brew called me back and apologized for the problems I've been having from their last two ingredient kits, stating some problems they've been having in their packaging department, and told me they'd send me a gift coupon for my next batch. But what I got was not a gift coupon, it was just a 10% discount coupon.
So I'm not sure if I should use them, or try someone else.

Any suggestions???

 

Oh...in reading back a few posts, I see that Northern and Rebel are two good places to check.
I'll do an internet search on them, unless someone's got links.

Thanks guys.
And don't be too harsh on an intermediate brewer.
I admit I'm not an expert yet, nor am I a beginner. Somewhere in the middle I suppose.
Hopefully, I'll learn a lot here...

 

I brewed real heavily back in college. But never got into the whole grain aspect of brewing until more recently. I have a lot to learn and need to tread carefully. I'm still sticking with the ingredient kits for now.
The truth is, after I left college in 1994, I haven't brewed at all until I picked the hobby back up last year.
So I'm re-learning a lot of stuff, I guess.

 

Magoon, who said I'm still ordering from that place? This was the last batch I got from there and I said I didn't think I was going to order from them anymore.
That aside, let's chalk this up to not initially understanding each other and both of us jumping to a few conclusions.
Start fresh...

Ssam, I am in Clovis, New Mexico.
It's about 7 miles from the Texas border, where all the women look like the cattle, and the cattle are arguably better looking. Of course, my wife's an exception, but I imported her from New Jersey.

Cheers...
I will check out a few of those other places that was recommended to me, and see how they are.
In the meantime, I may have dodged a bullet with this batch, as it is at home happily bubbling away...albiet, still a bit slower than the aggressive bubbling I'm used to seeing.