Wlp 820 Oktoberfest

[barleydog]

I brewed an Oktoberfest and my yeast stalled early. I fermented at 50 degF and it stopped at 1.021. I raised the temp up to 56 degF and shook the fermenter. The yeast picked up and took it down to 1.016. I was hoping for 1.015 or 1.014 so that isn't too bad and it tastes very good and much drier than I expected. It is lagering at 33 degF and will be there until mid September. This is my first lager and I was wondering what may have caused the stall.

I made a starter for this batch. The starter was 1.5 liters with 2 vials pitched on a stir plate. I made the starter a week in advance and then put it the fridge to decant off the beer. I was thinking that the yeast may have been been in the fridge too long and went a little dormant on me. Any thoughts?

[hotrod38]

You don't mention the length of your primary fermentation. Lager yeast are not like ale yeast. They take much longer to ferment and don't really show a lot of activity. 10-20 days, or longer, is usually the norm. Judging from the numbers you mentioned, it sounds like everything has gone well.

[ajdelange]

I tried to brew 3 times with this strain with pretty much the the same result each time. It ran like gang busters for a day or 2 then came to a screeching halt. In one case it took over a month to get to 67% ADF at 52° F. The last time I used it took three months in the fermenter at 57°F (not a temperature at which I like to ferment lagers) to creep down to a pretty dissappointing 72% ADF. My old supplier (who carried White Labs exclusively) went out of business. My new supplier does not carry White Labs (because, he says, he's heard too many stories like mine). I tried the Wyeast 2633 last time and got 73% ADF in 3 weeks at 47°F - a temperature I much prefer. After a couple more weeks cold conditioning it finished at 76% and is a very nice beer.

Thus from what I know your experience is more or less normal with this strain. I have talked to other people who say they have had no trouble with it but it will be a while before I'll use it again.

[barleydog]

I have heard from other people that they have had problems with this strain stalling. I have never actually had a problem with any white labs yeast before and also have had great results with wyeast. Since this is my first lager I was not sure what to expect. The beer got very close to what I wanted and it tastes great and is quite dry which surprised me at 1.016. I would have liked a couple more points. I think I have to be more patient with lagers and to make my starter a little earlier. I will try Wyeast next time to compare results.