First Lager fermentation Q

Lagers tend to take a little longer than ales, unless you go really high on pitch rates, or ferment at ale-like temperatures. How much yeast did you pitch and what was the batch size?

 

"Is this behavior similar to your experiences?"

All of the various lagers I have brewed (about 80-100 batches) have completed primary fermentation in less than 14 days but they have all been of moderate gravity (i.e., less than 1.054) and I have only ever fermented with WLP830 once.

You are doing the proper thing in terms of checking your gravity looking for a consistency in readings.

Cheers!

 

I’m in the same boat right now with Marzen. I had the same SG and it’s been roughly 2 weeks. Mine is at 1.021 for the last 3 days. I pitched 2 new packs of that yeast into a starter and I’ve had it in a temp controlled chamber starting at 50°for 3 days then rising to 60° two degrees a day until there and holding a week. I’ve dropped it back down to 50° two days ago. Just gonna let it sit there for another week and then cold crash and pressure transfer to the keg. I’m considering trying gelatin out for clarity. Never used it and this beer is for friends who paid for the ingredients and had them shipped to my house so I would have to brew it for them lol. So I don’t want to mess it anymore than I probably already have lol

 

No, for a beer like this I would pitch probably around 3mil/p, and oxygenate to about 14ppm (verified with a DO meter). For an example of what pitch rate I am talking about when I say 3, it would probably be the equivalent to about 6-7 direct pitch wyeast packs( or roughly 1/2 of a mason jar full of pure yeast). Unfortunately starter calculators are way off (about 50% or more) which is easily verified with a scope. So your pitch rate for that larger was pretty low. IF, you are not seeing around ~5 gravity points per day with lagers, you have not pitched enough yeast, oxygenated enough, or both.
For me on a 14.5p beer I would like to see around 1.5ppd (plato per day) with a final gravity of about 2.5p.
So the math works out like this:
14.5-2.5 = 12
12/1.5 = 8
8 days of fermentation to terminal gravity.

 

I'm pretty sure I overkill, but I toss 2x yeast packs into a 4l starter.

 

Same just made one last night.. 2 packs into 4L although this is for a slightly higher OG than usual but only 1.054.

 

You should let your beers bottle condition for a minimum of two weeks before chilling them down.

Cheers!

 

Nice win, mine never would drop below 1.020 I went ahead and kegged it yesterday. Look in the what homebrew are you drinking thread tonight I’ll post the first pour. Cheers