Lager Attenuation

I have had the pleasure of drinking a number of lagers brewed by @premierpro. Yup, those beers were "great".

He won a Silver Medal for his Czech Lager at the Michigan Beer Cup competition. I really enjoyed that beer!!

I used dry lager yeast (W-34/70) for the first time: a batch of Bohemian Pilsner I brewed last Friday (1/11/19). I used a single sachet and I had signs of fermentation fairly quickly. Needless to say I will not be drinking this beer for another couple of months but so far things look real good.

Cheers!

 

That was my thought as well.

 

Hi Jack, I always enjoy your comments. I feel encouraged with your results, but alas - I made a lager yesterday afternoon, and have since added two fairly fresh sachets of S-189 (one yesterday afternoon, a second this afternoon). To date (it's now evening), there are no signs of fermentation. What temperature did you brew at?

 

I have never used S-189. Your best source of information here is @premierpro.

Cheers!

 

You'll be fine...my rule of thumb for lagers...pitch twice as much yeast as you would for an ale...S-189 is one of the better dry lager yeasts, imho. Everything, it seems, is slower for a lager though.

 

I wasn't referring to S-189, but your experience with W-34/70.

 

Do you mean with dry lager yeast? I've had little problem with liquid yeast, which often starts within a half day or so. This is the first time I've used a dry lager yeast.

 

You only used 1 sachet initially, right? At risk of slings and arrows, you rehydrated, right?

 

37 hours ago (a day and a half) I sprinkled the first sachet on the surface of the wort (48 F); 19 hours ago, I rehydrated the second sachet in sterile wort for 30 minutes, poured it in, and raised the temperature of the wort to 49 F. I just checked, and still no sign of activity. I'm not impressed. It's back to liquid yeast next time (or even this time). I just raised the temperature another degree to 50 F.

 

No fermenter leaks?... Old yeast?...then most likely the yeast was toast/mishandled...maybe irradiated in the mail or customs

 

No leaks (using a glass carboy with fermentation lock). Relatively fresh yeast, kept refrigerated, good until March 2020. It's now 43 hours since the first sachet was added and 25 hour since the second. Still no fermentation lock activity, but finally there's a very thin layer of krausen covering the entire surface. I expect to see fermentation lock activity within the next few hours. Still, that's an awfully long time for the yeast to kick in.

I suspect that this dry yeast is not really designed for the typical lower lager temperatures (although the sachet says that it is good for down to 9 C, or 48 F). Might be OK for making a Kolsch.

 

I know on the dry 34/70 there is a whole nother pitch rate for cold. It's like double/triple. IIRC it was like 50grams at 7c. This probably follows suit.

 

As an update, fermentation lock activity did commence an hour or two after my post above. It's now bubbling away at about 15 times per minute, with a one inch head of krauesen. I suspect that sprinkling the yeast on the surface at 58 F did not really do the trick (unless it was delayed for two days), but that rehyrdrating the yeast and adding it when the beer was at 50 F provided results (although it still took over a day).

 

In post #49 you stated: "I sprinkled the first sachet on the surface of the wort (48 F)".

Cheers!

 

Thank you, my mistake - yes 48 F, not 58 F (I'm not the best two-finger typist, especially when most of the letters have faded from my keyboard )

 

From the Fermentis data sheet for S-189:

“…increase pitching for fermentation lower than 12°C (53°F), up to 200 to 300 g/hl at 9°C (48°F).”

So, for pitching this yeast into 48 °F wort they are stating you should pitch somewhere between 40 – 60 grams of dry yeast for a 20 liter/5 gallon batch. Your two packets (23 grams) is significantly below this recommend pitch rate.

Cheers!

 

You are absolutely right, Jack! Good and very important find! That means from anywhere to about 4-6 packages per 5 gallon batch rather than 2!! No wonder I had a slow start.

This definitely makes liquid yeast FAR more economical, unless one can also make a yeast starter with dry yeast, similar to how it is made with liquid yeast.

 

Fermentis suggest that amount if you feel compelled to pitch at a temperature like 48 °F.

You have the option of pitching a lesser number of sachets (e.g., 2) if you pitch at the recommended fermentation temperatures as detailed on the data sheet:

“FERMENTATION: ideally 12 -15°C (53.6 - 59°F)

PITCHING: 80 to 120 g/hl for fermentation at 12°C – 15°C (53.6 - 59°F).”

Cheers!

 

That's true, but I prefer the 'real lager' malty taste that you get when fermenting at about 48 F. More than that (at least for me), it begins to taste like a Kolsch (an ale that tastes a little like a lager), and more than that, an ale.

Since I've had a temperature-controlled freezer, I've never brewed a lager above 50 F.

 

I have read (and watched videos) of many brewers who report obtaining very clean results fermenting with WY2124 & W-34/70 into the 60's F. I have never done this myself but I based upon the number of folks reporting on this I am personally not a doubter here.

Regardless of the above, brew the way you want.

Cheers!