I brewed up some Vienna Lager Sunday morning 50 yours ago and it is setting there dead as a doornail. I looked at the expiration date on my yeast and see that it was 45 days ago. I ordered a new packet of yeast from the place I bought the kit from but I don’t think it will get here before Thursday. I live in the sticks and don’t have a closeby beer store to get supplies from. The wort is sitting in a room that is 60 degrees. If I add the yeast Wednesday or Thursday do I stand any chance of the wort surviving and getting a successful brew? This was my fourth brew and the other brews came out well. I keg my beer too. :cheers:
I would say that this will come down to how clean and sanitized everything is.
Is this dry yeast or liquid yeast? If you’re using liquid yeast you really should be making a starter, in which case you would have known if the yeast was viable.
If you’re using dry yeast, you don’t necessarily need a starter, although depending on the gravity one packet may not be quite enough (assuming its a real lager and not a mock lager with ale yeast).
Finally, if you’re doing a real lager, your temperature should be a good deal colder than 60.
All that out of the way, provided your sanitation was good, letting the wort sit a few days before it gets good yeast shouldn’t be a huge deal.
I have found that Lager yeast take a lot longer to start and you need to pitch twice as much. Also 60 degrees with lager yeast will give you some pretty bad off flavors it needs to be 45-55 with the lower end more desireable.
80 hours and you will see fermentation. You should be fine.
Expiration dates aren’t literal, man. I’m a pharmacist. I might also be drunk (not on the job). :cheers:
If it was Wyeast thats not the expiration date its the born on date.
Since you keg, are you able to put your fermentation bucket in a sub 40F cooler? This will slow any bacterial growth.
The yeast is “Drewferm” lager dry yeast.
Unfortunately I don’t have anywhere to put it that is cooler than 60 degrees. It calls for 53 to 59 degree fermenting temp so I figured one degree off the top end wouldn’t matter much. For all I know, the temp is dropping down below 59 at night anyway. The wort is in a 6.5 gal glass carboy.
Cleanliness shouldn’t have been any problem. I used the recommended cleaner and sanitizer just prior to filling the carboy. It was rinsed well also and it is the same procedure I used on my first three brews and they always started bubbling within 12 hours.
I guess I have another question. If I add another yeast packet to to the wort and the first packet was just taking a long time to kick in, will a double dose of yeast hurt the outcome any? It looks like candleman recommends pitching twice the yeast anyway. I’m guessing that it will be OK.
