Lawrence Brewers Guild

I'm on my 4th lager. I ferment both the primary and secondary between 40-46.

This particular Bavarian Helles seems to be slow/stuck. At 25 days it is still at 1.038 after starting at 1.058. My other three batches of Pils, Pre-prohibition lager, and Schwarzbier ended between 1.012 to 1.006 at the above temperatures throughout ferementation. I don't recall any of them being this high when I racked from primary to secondary after 3 weeks. The yeast is SafLager Wihenstephan Lager W-34/70. That is the same yeast I used with my Schwarzbier that I recieved some decent comments on. The fermentation for the other three was between 41 and 49 days.

Some variables from this batch from the first three. Normally I make a yeast starter. I did not this time, using the dry lager yeast straight from the packet. If this is the problem, why would it ferment 1058 to 1038 and then stop?

Second variable: When putting the rubber stopper on, it got stuck. I tried to fish it out with a non-sanitized wire (yeah, I know - stupid) and it fell through into the wort. I left it in and used a different one. At time of transfer, the beer didn't taste infected, just very sweet.

Am I just forgetting how high it is after 3 weeks when lagering that cold, or is there an issue going on?

Thanks for the advice.

At the club meeting, I got a few different suggestions. They primarily were either to add more yeast or allow to warm the beer to warm to finish fermenting.

I chose the second because of low oxygen levels after it has fermented some what. The beer was pulled out of the fridge and slowly raised to the mid-60's. Fermentation gradually started at about 40 and never did really just take off - it just kept slowly fermenting. I also added some yeast nutrient as well.

I attribute this problem not with the low temperature, or the dry yeast, but with the pitch rate. I've used this exact yeast and fermented 40-46 with it and did not have any problems. The difference was having a yeast starter vs. not having the starter.

I plan on kegging it this weekend. I'll post again when it comes time to drink it.

Lagers are such yeast hounds, Three to five times the pitching rate of ales. Also pitching a starter while it is really rolling seem to help a lot too. I think it is the cold temps that really work against the yeast, because it really, secretly, wants to work a warmer temps-- therefore the need for a huge pitch, but oh how the payoff is so worth it in a great lager!

Kegged this today. It finished at 1.021, a bit high - but did come down from the 1.038 it was stuck at. This is what my bill was:

Carapils, .75 lbs
Pilsener malt, 10lbs
Hallertauer Mittelfruh, 1oz, 60 min
Hallertauer select, 1oz, 15 min

Yeast Fermentis W-34/70 SafLager Weihenstephan Lager.

OG was 1.058. I was wondering, what would you expect the ending gravity to be? I was hoping for 1.015 or lower because of previous ending gravities with this type of yeast.

Any comments?

You appear to be well below the operating temperature of your yeast. The happy area is 53.6 though 59 degrees for your dry yeast. Lager needs a higher pitching rate than ale yeast because of the colder temperatures, this added with a lower concentration will have a hard time getting started in a descent period of time.

If you have had good success in the past with your temperature, try 50 degree F for 4 weeks and then lager for 4 weeks a 40 degrees F.

Temperature in fermentation is everything. I wish that I was at the point in my life to control the temperature but I need another refrig to serve from and to ferment, ain't it fun

Let me know how it works out.

By the way, your ADF (apparent degree of fermentation) was 64 percent but should have been in the range of of about 74 percent or greater. Again, try a warmer temperature to make your yeast happy. Though not generally accepted, try a yeast starter with your dry lager yeast to get the pitching rate up to at least 3 times the packet pitching rate.

Finally kegged it on Sun, 12/7. Tapped it today for tonight's meeting. I think it is quaffable. I would be interested in your opinion if you have followed this thread. Let me know.