Lager Fermentation - Has It Begun?

[seemax]

I've got my fridge running at about 10C reliably. It's been about 48hrs since pitching and there is very little action in terms of airlock, however the airlock water has lifted a little so I assume there is come CO2 production. There is also a small amount of foam on top, but this could be residual from wort aeration?

I did a 2L starter for 3 days using Wyeast Czech Pils, pitched about half day after full krausen and a decent pile of sediment on bottom of the bottle. I drained most of wort, adjust temp with some of chilled wort, swished thoroughly and pitched (both were about 18C). Then it all went into the small fridge (which given the 25L would take hours to chill down to 10C).

The fermentor isn't clear, but I can make out some darker areas on the bottom that appear to be yeast, is this the bottom fermenting process?

I'm probably being paranoid... any advice?

Stef

 

[blackbock]

Seemax,

No doubt your brew is on its way to fermenting, but don't be alarmed if you don't see a huge foamy head appear - lager fermentations are not usually like that, and although you can expect some airlock activity, it won't necessarily go beserk either.

Dropping the starter at 18 degrees into a 10 degree fridge may cause the some of the yeast to become inactive as well, so there may be some extended lag time, especially since a 2L starter is probably underpitching somewhat at that temperature.

From what I have heard, the Czech Pils yeast is a little bit fickle.