Lager Lag?

[BigNastyBrew]

Ok, so going against the advice of Mylo to go ahead and pitch very warm (I was at 80° I believe), I waited until I got my lager down to 50° before pitching. That was yesterday morning and there is no action.

I pitched from a starter but I don't know the strain.

Do lagers normally lag more than ales?

[Mylo]

Fo' sho'

BTW, my Schwarz got a little warm by the time I got it home the next day. I'm still fighting to get it down and fermentation started...


Mylo

[BigNastyBrew]

Damn! Well, hopefully she kicks off soon. For both of us. If I have nothing by tomorrow morning, I'm buying 4 vials of German Lager to dump in.

[MattSF]

remember a point JZ made...since the beer is on the cold side, it can hold more CO2 than it would at room temperature. So in theory, it takes longer for the CO2 to supersaturate and start forming bubbles and kraeusen. I recently pitched WLP800 from a nice starter into a wort at about 46F and yeah it took a few days to start showing signs of activity. That was even with splashing and a minute of O2 via airstone.

[BigNastyBrew]

remember a point JZ made...since the beer is on the cold side, it can hold more CO2 than it would at room temperature. So in theory, it takes longer for the CO2 to supersaturate and start forming bubbles and kraeusen. I recently pitched WLP800 from a nice starter into a wort at about 46F and yeah it took a few days to start showing signs of activity. That was even with splashing and a minute of O2 via airstone.

GREAT point. Thank you. I am a beer worry wort.

[MattSF]

I am a beer worry wort.

FIRED!

[SacoDeToro]

WLP830 is my primary lager yeast. I pitch and ferment @ 50 deg F. If it's a first generation pitch from a starter, I usually have a lag time of about 12-18 hours. If it's a repitch, I've seen that yeast fire off in as little as 6-8 hours. Still 24-36 hours probably wouldn't worry me too much with a first gen pitch into a lager.

[brewinhard]

+1 with what Saco said.

Lager fermentations take time and patience. Especially from the git go with initial pitching into primary. I have had some (albeit with crappy dry yeast) take 30-48 hrs. to start at 50 degrees. Liquid yeast is faster around 20-28 hrs. No worry, they always come out drinkable and delicious!