Oktoberfest fermentation question

[shunt]

So I got the first part of Krausen happening since last night, at around 71f. She's nice and strong. Split my 10 gallon into 2 fermenters going into a blowoff. I've heard of different fermentation schedules for this type of beer but I was wondering what the BN thought about what the best way I can get this puppy nice and happy. What's a good schedule here?

Thanks

* Used the White Labs yeast.

[dunleav1]

So I got the first part of Krausen happening since last night, at around 71f. She's nice and strong. Split my 10 gallon into 2 fermenters going into a blowoff. I've heard of different fermentation schedules for this type of beer but I was wondering what the BN thought about what the best way I can get this puppy nice and happy. What's a good schedule here?

Thanks

* Used the White Labs yeast.

I pitch at 45 and let them rise to 49-50.

[shunt]

So I got the first part of Krausen happening since last night, at around 71f. She's nice and strong. Split my 10 gallon into 2 fermenters going into a blowoff. I've heard of different fermentation schedules for this type of beer but I was wondering what the BN thought about what the best way I can get this puppy nice and happy. What's a good schedule here?

Thanks

* Used the White Labs yeast.

I pitch at 45 and let them rise to 49-50.

I had it there for the first day but nothing happened, cranked it up to 70 and it started within an hour.
I did slowly bring it back down to 60.

[HighCountry]

I had it there for the first day but nothing happened, cranked it up to 70 and it started within an hour.
I did slowly bring it back down to 60.

What kind of starter did you use? What was the OG?

I'm assuming you used White Labs 820? Ale temps like that are going to put off some stinky stuff. I'd get the temps down to 45-50 post haste.

[shunt]

I had it there for the first day but nothing happened, cranked it up to 70 and it started within an hour.
I did slowly bring it back down to 60.

What kind of starter did you use? What was the OG?

I'm assuming you used White Labs 820? Ale temps like that are going to put off some stinky stuff. I'd get the temps down to 45-50 post haste.

OG 1060

[Henning1966]

What does mr malty say? I am looking at an october fest. But I know on activator of wyyeast octoberfest is not enough. What my plan is to brew a 4.5 gallon starter of a session lager pitch smack pack straight to carboy and ferment at 50 to grow a slug of yeast. With this high jack can I ask. How does this look for a drinkable starter?

A ProMash Recipe Report

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (Gal): 5.00 Wort Size (Gal): 5.00
Total Grain (Lbs): 7.50
Anticipated OG: 1.041 Plato: 10.27
Anticipated SRM: 9.8
Anticipated IBU: 16.8
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75 %
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Pre-Boil Amounts
----------------

Evaporation Rate: 15.00 Percent Per Hour
Pre-Boil Wort Size: 5.88 Gal
Pre-Boil Gravity: 1.035 SG 8.78 Plato


Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
86.7 6.50 lbs. Pale Ale Malt (Rahr) USA 1.037 4
13.3 1.00 lbs. Crystal 55L UK 1.034 55

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.09 g. Columbus Pellet 13.00 16.0 60 min.
7.09 g. Czech Saaz Pellet 2.50 0.8 15 min.


Yeast
-----

WYeast 2633 Octoberfest Blend

[HighCountry]

I had it there for the first day but nothing happened, cranked it up to 70 and it started within an hour.
I did slowly bring it back down to 60.

What kind of starter did you use? What was the OG?

I'm assuming you used White Labs 820? Ale temps like that are going to put off some stinky stuff. I'd get the temps down to 45-50 post haste.

OG 1060

Did you do a starter? With that kind of OG I would do a 4.5 gallon starter (assuming the use of one vial/smackpack. You could, of course, do smaller starters and pitch more yeast cells.)

If you didn't do a starter, that could easily explain the lag time you saw. In my experience starters and fermentation temperature control are the two most important aspects of brewing a lager. With those high fermentation temps your beer could have some pretty strong, fruity esters. Hopefully you got the temp down quickly.

[HighCountry]

With this high jack can I ask. How does this look for a drinkable starter?

Nice hijack, indeed.

As far as your drinkable starter - I don't know what you're going to end up with with that yeast/recipe combination. Obviously you're just looking for a starter that you can slug, so it might turn out all right. Not sure if you're planning on fermenting your lager at lager or ales temps. That might make something sort of funky at that high temperature using WL 820. And if you're fermenting at lager temps, it will take forever to complete fermentation and flocculate. Personally, I'm not sure I'd use 820 to make anything other than a Marzen or bock. I'd suggest just brewing up a big ol' starter - use Mr. Malty to calculate based on your OG/volume. at 70 degrees you could be done in no time. Otherwise, if you did your drinkable starter now as a lager you'd have your Oktoberfest in time for summer.

I know this may not work for everybody, but I use standard 2-row at 75 cents/lbs for my big ass lager starters (if I don't have a yeast slurry handy.) I group my brews together (both lagers and ales) and mash 10-gallon batches of American 2-row. A quick boil to sanitize the wort and I cool and ferment in carboys with allotted volumes for each of the upcoming brews. A recent 10-gallon batch of 2-row yielded enough starter wort for a 10-gallon dopplebock brew, a 10-gallon oatmeal stout and 10 gallons of a little wheat beer. It sure beats the $50 of DME it would have taken to create that wort the regular way.