Wyeast 2308 Munich Lager Activity

I’m brewing a Bavarian Helles all grain kit. I’ve had it fermenting in my pool house (temp approx 45-55 C) since Saturday night. However, fermentation has not started yet. I’m using a Wyeast 2308 Munich Lager yeast. Is this normal, or should I pitch some more yeast in? Your input would be most appre…

Did you make a starter? If not, you can expect a 3-4 day lag time before fermentation starts.

It was a smack-pack. The instructions suggested a 3-hour wait after smacking, but I only waited 90 min, so it didn’t really expand a great deal. I’m wondering if that made a difference?

Sheesh, I hope you meant in Fahrenheit and not Celsius. That’s way too hot to ferment at.

Lagers require A LOT of yeast and A LOT of oxygen at the start. One smack pack would not be enough, especially if you didn’t oxygenate well.
If it’s been a week, it might be too late to salvage the batch. That’s a long time. If there was no activity after 72 hours, then you should pitch more yeast, or pitch some US-05 and warm up the temp. You could still try to do that, of course and hope for the best.

OOPS. Yes I meant Fahrenheit. The kit instructions said just one smack pack would work. And I did oxygenate well before I added the yeast. The original SG was about 1.040, so I would have thought 1 pack would have done it. FYI, it will be 3 full days at about 9.00 pm tonight.

Mr. Malty says you need three smack packs or else one pack and a 5L starter (with no stir plate).

I did an American style lager back in the Spring and one smack pack worked fine.

If you can, go buy another smack pack of Munich lager and pitch it, then shake the carboy or oxygenate again. One pack really isn’t enough for healthy fermentation.

Not having tasted your beer, I obviously cannot comment on the quality, but pitching enough healthy yeast, with lagers especially, has a huge impact on the final product. “Worked fine” might be good enough but was it the best possible beer?

sometimes an open/wild fermentation ‘works fine’ too :slight_smile:

Get a dry lager yeast and pitch it. if that don’t get it rolling nothing will. I have not had good luck with wyeast smackpacks with lagers, starter or not. they work fine for ales though.