I will be brewing my first lager in a few days. The liquid yeast (Wyeast #2007, Pilsner lager yeast) I have purchased notes that the optimum temperature for fermentation is between 48-56F. I plan on conducting the fermentation within this temperature range, but have a question about yeast pitching temperature for this lager. At what wort temperature can I pitch the yeast? With Ales I always pitch at about 70F, but not sure if 70F is OK for this yeast? Do I need to pitch at a lower temperature, that is, closer to the recommended fermentation temperature? I suspect I am OK pitching anywhere under about 70F, but would like some confirmation. Thanks.
The higher the temperature you pitch at, the fast fermentation will start. Some people advocate pitching lager strains at 55F or even higher, then starting to cool down a few/several hours later. The problem with this approach is that if you mess up the timing, or if it takes longer to get the temp under control than expected, you'll end up with elevated esters, which is not normally desired in lagers. When I want to ferment a lager at 50F, I pitch at 50F.
A couple of things to expect with lager yeast: it's common for a fairly long lag time, don't be surprised to see something like 18 hours before any airlock activity. I haven't used 2007 but every lager strain I have used has been very tame compared to ale yeast. So don't expect a significant rise in wort temp, maybe one or two degrees. Your krausen ring may be as little as one inch above the wort/beer. Good luck.
Do you have a way to add oxygen? The bigger question is “how much should I pitch”. For a 5 gallon batch you’re gonna need a pretty big starter from one of those smack packs. Those notoriously have very little viable yeast in them. How many packs do you have? Can you make a starter?
I have 1 pack. I do plan on making a 1500mL starter with yeast nutrient added. I will be using a stir plate with magnetic stir bar. @JackHorzempa
It all depends… honestly it’s been a while since I brewed a 5 gallon batch.. if you want to ferment it cold, the traditional way, I’d almost recommend doing a 1500 then stepping that up again. But if you’re gonna pitch and ferment a bit warmer that might be enough? Barely…. Really it’s hard to overpitch a lager at the homebrew level. The breweries that are brewing lager the really traditional slow and cold method are all well over 2m cells/ml. just looked at brewers friend and that would require a 3L starter if smack pack was 1 month old. Good thing is lagers don’t require nearly as much o2. All German and most of the good US brewers are using sterile air which only gets you to 8ppm which I think you can achieve on a homebrew scale without a stone and pure o2. 1500ml starter I’d definitely go on the high end of ferm temp. You can pitch warm and turn it down but thy creates other issues…
