WLP802 Czech Budejovice Problem?

[Horatio]

Hi all,

I made my first AG lager yesterday and pitched a vial of WLP802 Czech Budejovice Lager Yeast. I read the info on the yeast and it said that it is pitchable and can go straight into a 5 gallon brew. I pitched at 20c and left it like that for 12 hours before putting the FV into my temp controlled fridge, which is set at 12c. It is now over 30 hours since pitching and nothing is happening I realise that it would have been better to make a starter but assumed that as it stated that I didn't need... well, I thought that I didn't need to! Lesson learned. But what to do now? Do I sit and wait it out or pitch some dried yeast that I have?

Any advice would be most welcome.

[mysterio]

Nothing wrong with the strain of yeast, unfortunately you are right, you really must make a starter. The only circumstances you can pitch these directly is if the yeast is very fresh, the beer is an ale of 1.040 gravity or below. Even under these circumstances I would still make a starter to be safe!

Lagers require very large starters, perhaps a gallon in size depending on whether you pitch cool or warm.

I would go in with the dried yeast, next time you will know.

[Horatio]

Cheers Mysterio. Maybe it would help if it didn't say that it was okay to pitch it directly into the FV! Should I knock up a starter for the dried or just rehydrate it? Also what should I now do with the wort in FV regarding temperature; keep it at 12c or raise it back to 20 for repitching? Many thanks for the help.

[mysterio]

You should be fine rehydrating and keeping it at 12C, do it this morning if you haven't already

Yes, the instructions probably work fine if you live close to the white labs factory and the vials are fresh, making a starter almost guarantees success though.

[Horatio]

I drew a litle of the wort off and put into my starter flask and added the dried yeast last night. It is showing signs of life this morning so I will pitch it when I get home tonight.

Many thanks for the help and advice mysterio Next time I'll ask the questions before I feck it all up!

[lancsSteve]

Cheers Mysterio. Maybe it would help if it didn't say that it was okay to pitch it directly into the FV!

With some you can as mysterio says - if fresh and into an ale it works fine, I used one in a 1.067 US Ale and took 24 hours to get going but worked fine so can be OK in higher gravity ales too direct but the lag is not ideal.

However more challenging fermentaion environments - like lagers and high gravity beers - make a starter essential. It might work out fine seing as you started it at a more benign temp for reproduction at 20c (though that could lead to unwanted ester formation) before reducing temp but def not a given - one to learn for the future. White Labs are keen to market it as 'as easy as dried yeast' but notably leave out the caveats. The freshness of the yeast and storage are HUGE factors