As you know, I've been brewing my lagers with Wyeast 2352 since the PC release last October. I thought I knew it well, but I guess I'm still learning. For several batches I fermented at 50 till 50% then 68. Had pretty good results. But last time I started at 48F. That was the batch that after 4 days still had 0% ADF, so I pitched 1056 that I had on hand. We are drinking those now and they are amazingly lager-like. I don't detect any ale esters. Hmmm.
This past brew day I pitched propagated 2352 cultures at high krausen as normal, and again at 48F. Today is day 3 and I'm just starting to get activity. The German Helles Exportbier has dropped from 1.056 to 1.050... I think I found the issue. 48F is too cold for that strain. I knew that Wyeast says 52-62F but how often are their suggestions dead on? Seems to be the problem this time though.
Next time I will start at 52F and see if my hunch is correct.
Its crazy sometimes how just when you think you know something, you still have more to learn