Munich Lager Yeast, Slow Starter?

[Dave70]

Here's what I did.

Saturday arvo, made up a 1L starter with Wyeast 2308, pitched it yesterday at around five o clock.
Today there seems to be very little activity apart from a few bubbles. The yeast wasn't super fresh, hence the starter, but it certainly wasn't out of date. Do these yeasts normally take a little while to get cranking?
The only thing I can think of is that I pitched the yeast into the starter at about 18 deg where it sat for a day, and I'm fermenting at 10, could this have knocked it around?

I'm thinking I'll give it another two days and re check the OG, if there's no shift I'll pitch another yeast. Will this adversely effect the taste of the beer - it's a Helles, so there's not much to hide behind.

cheers

 

[razz]

how was the starter activity Dave?

 

[haysie]

i dont reckon one day would have been enough, fresh it may not have fermented out in that time and you mentioned it wasnt fresh. As Razz asked, how was the activity? plus starter wort gravity and how much beer at what gravity did you pitch it too?
2308 imo is quite sulphury which most does dissapate, but in general I found it to be a yeast that doesnt like finishing the job (im my time frames) and theres heaps better lager liquid yeasts available.
Give it 48 I reckon, it should come good.

 

[Dave70]

how was the starter activity Dave?

Well it had the top, middle and bottom separation thing going on, but there was no high krausen mark (?) in the bottle to speak of.
I was out most of the day and night so I ,may have missed the show.

 

[RobW]

I used this yeast in a Helles recently - pitched the smack pack into 2 litres of wort and then into the main brew once that was going (next day).
It fired within 12 hours and finished at 1.010 after 2 weeks at 12oC.

 

[razz]

Stick to the plan at this stage dave and check SG as you suggest. Pitching at 18 and reducing to 10 degrees is ideal for your situation, although most likely under pitched. I haven't used the yeast myself so not sure if it will need a D rest at the last 4-5 gravity points. If your in the market for another yeast I find the 2252PC Rasenmaher yeast is fantastic, just on my second batch with it and it's a fast worker.

 

[hewy]

1L definitely isnt enough yeast to pitch into a lager.

I use this yeast quite frequently and I have subscribed to the Jamil yeast pitching rate way of thinking. I have tried pitching 2L starters into lagers and it is just not enough yeast to finish the job.

Last helles I did, I made a 10L starter (~1.040). One smack pack into the starter and let that ferment out. Pitched cold into my beer and within 24hrs (@10deg C) had lots of activity. OG of ~1.051 FG of 1.008

10L sounds like a lot but I just made extra wort and drained it out of my kettle before I added any hops (during the boil)

 

[drew9242]

Hey hewy can i ask how much beer you are fermenting when you whack a 10L starter in? If i did that it wouldn't really be called a starter because it is half my final volume.

 

[hewy]

Thats only for a 23L batch.

If you have a stir plate you can get away with less but then stirring ~5L becomes the issue...

It seems wasteful but it really makes a big difference.

Alternatively you can pitch part of your current yeast cake into the next beer. That's another way to get a good healthy pitch of yeast.

 

[felten]

If you use the intermittent shaking method/setting on the calculator you can use far less as well. Using the simple starter setting on the calc is really inefficient

 

[drew9242]

I just used a 2L starter for 2206 and it fired up within 24 hours. My first proper lager so we will see how it turns out.