German Brewing

well then, onwards! All eyes on you!

Nice spread of info you have there.

Cheers!

I have a question. Currently fermenting my first pils. Comparing to this https://edelstoffquest.files.wordpress. ... haupt2.png
it's reeeeally slow. I've tried WLP940 just to try it. I'm currently one week in and the SG has dropped from 50 to 39.

Pitched at 7c-ish and set the fridge to 8c. I murdered that wort with yeast. I used (calculated) close to 30bn cells pr liter, which should be more than enough. But (here's the only but I can think of): The cell mass in the flask seemed smaller than what I would expect from 450-ish billion cells. AFAIK 940 can do cold fermentations. Also gave it a pretty good dose of pure o2.

Any tips?

Is it your first gen? How did you grow up the cell count?

FIrst gen's can be sluggish, especially if they aren't put in a starter (vitality starters are very popular).

Well... I did a second batch with which is now 2nd gen 940, still as slow, and it seems like 1.018 is as far as it will go.

And, i also did another lager with 833, seems like it's stopping at 1.018 too.

Pitched a lot of healthy yeast, pure oxygen, and fermented flat 9C.

Mash for both was doughin at 50C, rise to 63, hold for about an hour, then up to 72C hold for about 15 min, then mashout.

Any input is appreciated. Seems like I can't get the hang of lagers. I'm doing a no-sparge btw, which is a thinner mash than with sparge. I know Beta-amylase can be more unstable in thin mashes, but the germans usually use thin mashes (as comparing to american/british, afaik.

You need to look at your mash schedule.... PS: I've done loads of nice Helles no-sparge. That's not a problem. Your yeast preparation method may also be a source of problems. How long did you ferment again? At what temps? What were your expected cell count and oxygen levels when you pitched?