Fermentation problem

[JHC]

I brewed my first lager not long ago. It is an Oktoberfest. We brewed about 3.5 weeks ago. OG 1.060. We used a pitchable lager yeast from Wyeast. It took 3 or 4 days for the yeast to get going and then we put the carboy at 50 degrees and left for 3 weeks. We decided to then put in secondary eventhough it was still bubbling about every 8-10 seconds and our specific gravity was 1.030. Since racking it, it has not done anything; no more bubbling. It has now been 2 days. What do I do? Is it stuck? Do I add more yeast? Do I wait it out? It is still at 50 degrees. Any help would be appreciated.
JHC

[Tom C]

Not necessarily. Fermentation is continueing just not as active as your primary. I would let it sit for a couple of days and take another reading to see if the gravity is continuing to drop. If it still is at the same level then you may think of re-pitching, but being a lager I think it will be fine over time. Marzens (Octoberfests) are usually brewed in March and not ready until the fall season. They are maltier so will have a higher fg reading than most ales/lagers. I think you would be shooting for a fg of 1.018-1.022.

Tom C

[O2 Mash]

That happens a lot to me as well. For some reason after I rack, often times it is two or three days before it gets going again, and I'm not sure why. I'd tough it out for a few more days.

[sallad]

lager yeast, being a bottom fermenting variety, tend to hang out at the bottom of your carboy. when you rack, you leave behind a lot of whats on the bottom - i.e., a whole lot of active yeast.

if it was still bubbling every few seconds, i'd say you should have left it in primary longer. too late for that now...

you are likely to still have some active yeast, but maybe not to many. so just figure on it taking a long time to get down to where it needs to be! but, it'll get there!

[Fast_Eddy]

Following up on some of the above.

1.018-1.022 is generally regarded as too high for a FG for an okto. The guidelines suggest 1.012-1.016.

Just like Sallad said - most lager yeast ferment from the bottom so when you rack too soon you remove most of the active yeast from the ferment. In all truth - it might not "get there". Just depends on how pooped those remaining yeasties are.

If there has been no movement of the gravity for 2+ days I would seriously consider pitching a tube or smack pack of whatever you're fermenting with. Just by virtue of the fact that it was still at 1.030 after 3 weeks I would've probably pitched some more yeast. That definitely falls under the category of a sluggish ferment. 7-14 days is the expected ferment range for a lager @ 48-50F when pitched with an appropriate amount of yeast.

One other note - 1 tube of lager yeast is considerably underpitching for a 15P beer that you're going to ferment at 50F.