Octoberfest never fermented- need help

[Brew Engineer]

I brewed an Octoberfest last Sunday. Only my second lager.
OG: 1.050
I was a little rushed in the evening. I got it chilled down to about 59, and pitched my yeast. Then set the fridge to 49. It sat at 48-50 all week long, but I never saw any airlock activity.

I didn't do a starter, but I pitched 4 Wyeast smack packs (400 Billion cells).

I just took a hydrometer reading and I'm still on 1.050. It's done nothing all week.

I raised the set temp to 52, and swirled the keg up, but what should I do? Should I buy another pack, do a starter and re-pitch? Any other ideas?

[keelanfish]

Did the packs swell? Can't imagine zero fermentation from four packs. Are you sure your temp controll is reading correctly? Could be that it's alot colder than you think? Did you aereate? Sorry, kind of grasping at straws here.

[Brew Engineer]

Did the packs swell? Can't imagine zero fermentation from four packs. Are you sure your temp controll is reading correctly? Could be that it's alot colder than you think? Did you aereate? Sorry, kind of grasping at straws here.

Yeah, I used an aquarium pump for 35 minutes. The fridge has always been pretty solid with my controller, but maybe.

The sample tasted sweet, and still clean. The packs had started to swell, they sat about an hour or a little more before I pitched.

[brewinhard]

Very strange....you could pitch some fermentis W34/70 which is a good dry strain for malty lagers. Hope things work out for you as I know how frustrating that can be!

[Brew Engineer]

I really have trouble believing that I got no activity from 4 smack packs!

So, anyone else have any ideas?

How warm should I raise it before it would be better to just re pitch? Should I try raising it to like 58 or 60 just to get it going, then drop it back down again? I'm up to 54 now, and waiting to see if it takes off.

The problem is if I repitch, I need to order new yeast, so it's several days just to get a new pack.

Frustrating!!!

[captain carrot]

If you can get some US05 dry yeast, let the beer warm up, make a quick starter, aerate, pitch and ferment it as an ale.
Good Luck

[keelanfish]

Do you have the ability to make a starter? If so, you could chill the wort down as low as you can (32 if possible) for preservation sake. Order a new pitch of yeast. Pull a couple liters off for use as a starter, allow to warm and then proceed with a starter as typical. This would accomplish three things if successful. One, you would verify the viability of the new yeast. Two, you would verify the fermentability of your wort. Three, you would have a healthy starter to pitch which is preferrable to just pitching the packs. As your starter is finishing, allow the wort to warm to pitching temp, re aereate and pitch. Might work...

[Henning1966]

I would say try warming it up around 60 for a day and rousting the yeast and see if it starts fermenting. Almost sounds like that 10 degree temp drop was to fast and shocked the yeast and they said fuck it is to damn cold to eat lets go to sleep.