I am brewing a lager. I always have trouble with them, but I'm a glutton for punishment, i guess . I'm calling it Simcoe Pilsner because I love simcoe hops and thought they'd make an interesting lager. It started at 1.067 SG so I made a starter to really get it going. I used WLP800 (pilsner lager yeast), and fermented at 53* F. The lag time was only a few hours and it seemed to chug along nicely. After three weeks I transferred it to secondary, and discovered the SG was still above 1.030! So, I left secondary at 53* F, and have been checking the SG every few days. Now, after two weeks, although the SG is slowly going down, it's at 1.020. That's 5 weeks total for those of you keeping track. It still has a bit of a foam "head" on it and it's still bubbling the airlock a bit, so I don't think the yeast has given up yet. I expected pretty full attenuation since I mashed at 151* F for about an hour (after a protein rest at 132* F).

Soooo,

Last night I pitched in some yeast energizer I had and stirred it all up. Now I'm questioning this decision. Am I over-worried here? Showed I have just relaxed and let it sit instead of mucking with it? I'd love any comments. Especially if anyone regularly brews lagers.

Well, despite the lack of comments , I'll update.

After three days with yeast energizer, nothing has changed. It's still at 1.021. So, I've accepted that I'll have a slightly sweet lager. It tastes ok since I hopped it pretty aggressively. So I pulled the temp down to 30* F, and will let it "chill" for a few weeks before kegging. I am curious about it still having a sort of foamy fermentation "head" on it....at least it may have a great foamy head when I'm done!

I nearly left a reply that to finish off the fermentation I would bring the temp up to 59-60*F, as this will make the yeast more active. But I'm not very experienced with lagers and thus hesitated to mention it. Hope it goes well though, A few more weeks could change it quite a bit.

It's stopped fermenting and there's still krausen??

I'd at least let it sit till the head dissapates and see if I could get a little more out of it. the only lager I've made was a steam beer so I don't have a ton of experience, but even then my steam chugged along for over a week. My general rule is let the beer sit at least a week after bubbler activity stops, then start your readings with the hydrometer.

I changed my mind quickly after starting to cool it. I'm letting it sit for a week at 65* F to see if it'll do anything. Even my previous lagers didn't take more than two weeks to ferment, and this one is approaching 6! I'm not sure if it's actually krausen, or if it's just gas coming out of it. I think I need to just "forget" about it for awhile longer and stop worrying so much!

Why don't you try pitching a package or two of dry lager yeast while waiting? A larger yeast population might help knock down the FG more quickly.

Cheers,
Dave

I considered that, but am about 200 miles from a HBS, and only have a weizenstephan (sp?), and an Irish ale yeast. I'm hoping warmer temps will help kick it back up...if not, I have some lager yeast on the order I'm placing next week. This could be the longest brewday to glass beer yet!

Just thought I'd update.

After a couple weeks at 65*, it's finally down to 1.014 and holding. A little higher than I'd like to end, but that's OK. I'm transferring to "tertiary" now to start Lagering....after over seven weeks I'm starting to Lager , oh this hobby always brings surprises.

my last lager i did had some what of the same issues . i left it in the primary for like a 3 weeks and i left it in the 2nd for right at two months the last week of it at room temp of like 64 or so .... seemed like the yeast just didn't want to quit ..finally it did and i kegged it *( i dont remember what all my readings were id have to go find my notes ) i let it carb for two weeks and i tried it ,and it went from this beautiful delicious amber to this almost hoegaarden color and taste like boo boo .. everyone told me to chill and calm down just let it sit ... so i did as i had another marzian ale kegged i drank it .... and let the lager sit in the fridge for like 3months ,, just totally forgot about it and truly was in denial and didnt want to think it had ruined ............Then i said screw it so i tapped it and oooooohhhh my lord .. it was sooooo good perfect ... beautiful head back to its beautiful color and taste . moral is lagers are crazy ....just crazy