Wyeast 2206

[Pharmbrewer]

I pitched this into my oktoberfest 11 days ago and its still rockin hard @ 50 deg F. It did lag a little (~24hrs) because I ended up underpitching a little because my gravity came out higher than i had anticipated (1.063 vs the 1.056 I was shooting for). Anyway Anyone have any experience with how long this strain take to finish out? I want to use the yeast cake for my doppel bock so I'm trying to plan ahead for my next brew day.

Thanks in advance.
PB

[brewinhard]

Give it at least 2 wks before taking a gravity reading. Sometimes lagers take a while (3 wks is not unusual). Don't forget, your gravity was considerably higher than expected so it will take longer to chomp through the extra sugars at 50 degrees. Did you aerate well?

One thing with lagers is you definitely cannot rush them. They seem to have a mind of their own and finish when they are ready to. Relax, and be patient. Mentally prepare for your big Dopplebock brewday and until then drink some commerical examples to wrap your head around the style you will be brewing.

[Pharmbrewer]

Well I let the the temp go up to 62 on day 21 because my airlock was begining to slow. I checked my gravity 24 hours after it had reached 62. it came out at 1.022. The airlock is still bubbling and I'm hopefull it will still finish out in the low to mid teens over the next couple of days.

My airation is about as good as I can get for right now. I pour the cooled wort through a strainer over my hop bags into a sanitized bottleing bucket and then drain into a carboy via the spout splashing the wort on the side of the carboy as it goes in (maximum surface area exposure).

This yeast just behaved completely different than the pilsner I brewed last june (wyeast 2001). It was completely done in 2 weeks. Oh well thats the one of best parts about this hobbie is the continueing learning experience.

Planning the dopplebock for this friday.

Prost!
PB

[Pharmbrewer]

Arrggh! Its been at 62 since the 21st and is only down to 1.020. The airlock is still bubbling but I'm having doubts to this one finishing out. What should I do? Should I hold at 62 for a few more days? Should I slowly drop down to lager temps and hope it finishes out during the lager phase?

I didn't think fermentability would be an issue on this one. I ended up doughing in low around 148 so I added some sparge water at 30 min to try and bring up the temp a little. I checked again at 45 min and the temp was still at 148. At this point I pulled a decoction off boiled for 10 min added back to bring the temp up to 156. I let this sit for 15 min and then sparged. Could my problem be to many unfermentables?

Any help would be appriciated.

Thanks
PB

[Quin]

It sounds like a lack of aeration problem. Not much you can do at this point except pitch a new starter at high krausen or champagne yeast.

[Pharmbrewer]

It sounds like a lack of aeration problem. Not much you can do at this point except pitch a new starter at high krausen or champagne yeast.

I assume using a krausening starter of the 2206 in this beer would be preferable to champange yeast. What about using some saflager to finish it out?

Also I am assuming I should cool down to 50 before pitching in some new yeast.

Should I not use the yeast cake from this for my dopplebock then?

Ive never had problems with my aeration before, although this is probably the highest gravity lager I've done. Any recomendations for aerating the dopple bock I asume I would have the same problem given my current technique.

[Travisty]

I'd be wary about reusing that yeast considering that you underpitched and possibly underaerated. I tried to do a run of lagers last winter repitching from batch to batch. The first beer I made was a dunkel but I overshot my gravity and found out later that my O2 stone may have been a bit clogged. That beer and both of the other beers I tried to make with that yeast had attenuation and diacetyl issues. I can't say for sure it was the yeast, but I'm fairly certain it was.

[Pharmbrewer]

I was thinking about it and is there any reason I cant use some of my current yeat cake make a starter with it on my stir plate and repitch it at high krausen?

Wouldn't this essentually be the same thing as pitching a new starter from a smack pack?

That might also give me a better idea on weather or not to repitch for the dopple bock as well.