Mangrove Jack's dry yeast

[bwarbiany]

I was going to go on a hunt for SafLager W-34/70, which is hard to find sometimes, to brew my Oktoberfestbier. But I was down at O'Shea and they had just brought in these yeasts, so I bought 4 packs of the M84 Bavarian Lager yeast and last night I brewed the O'Fest. When I rack off it for lagering, I plan to brew a slight variation of Brad N's Schwarzbier on the yeast cake as well.

Brew-wise, I think I have everything under control for this test of the yeast. I properly rehydrated the yeast according to instructions. I pitched 4 packs into ~11 gallons of 1.057 wort at 51 deg F, so I should have a good cell count. Prior to pitching, I hit the wort with 75 seconds of pure O2. I will ferment at 53 degrees until I see activity start to slow, then d-rest and crash cool. The recipe is relatively simple (10# Munich, 6# Belg. Pilsner, 5# Vienna, 0.25# Carafa III for color, with only a 25 IBU addition of Magnum at 60 minutes), and should be a decent showcase for the yeast.

Hoping this one turns out well! I was a bit leery of trying the yeast, sight-unseen, with very few tasting notes available online, especially since I'll be serving this at my annual O'fest party. But I decided to take the plunge anyway...

[bwarbiany]

Hmm... So when I left the house this morning around 8:30, I still didn't have meaningful airlock activity (FYI I know I have a good seal on the fermenter).

As a result, I've bumped the temp to 55 in the hopes it starts to take off.

But 57 hours [and counting] of lag time, especially when I pitched 4 packs of yeast and oxygenated well, is a bit disappointing.

Hoping that it will be going strong by the time I get home from work today.

[maltbarley]

When I did mine a few weeks ago, I had about 48 hours of lag with S23 at 51 degrees. It's a lager, after all.

[bwarbiany]

Yeah, but this is getting ridiculous. I've now let it rise to 57 (the top of M84's range), and still nothing. That's ~86 hours lag.

I'm going to check gravity tonight just in case.

I'm wondering what to do if I'm getting no gravity change yet. I have some [old] slurry of San Diego Super Yeast... I could pitch that and try to keep it cool and clean, and call it my "Oktoberfest fAiLE"...

But with 4 packs of yeast, I can't imagine that all my yeast was dead.

[lexuschris]

I hate those long lagging yeasts... it just feels so much better when they blow off like a roman candle!

My last batch in my plastic fermenting bucket had very little activity... but I know that the lids on that one don't hold a perfect seal anymore. Probably not leaky enough to be an issue, but enough to max at a few PSI ... gravity check is the sane way to go!

BTW, isn't Mangrove Jack's a New Zealand brand? Just wondering if the yeast travelled that far..
--LexusChris

[bwarbiany]

So, between hours 92 and 94 I finally got fermentation.

Given that this beer is the cornerstone of my O'fest party, I'm not pleased. This better f*****g turn out...

[bwarbiany]

From Fri->Wed I had constant fermentation activity, and upon testing gravity, I'm at 1.016.

So I've raised temp for the D-rest, and upon tasting, everything seems normal. Think this one is in surprisingly good shape given the long lag...