wlp039 replacement? What went wrong?

I am having trouble finding this strain locally, any good alternates I could look for? And second question what did I do wrong?

I made an AHS nottingham ipa recipe (4 days ago) and it seems my yeast has given up early, I made a starter (the yeast had a july expiration date) and used the brewvint yeast fuel capsule (last 10 min of boil). I had a bit of a boil over in the start of my boil (pre hop additions) and ended up with a tad over four gallons in my 6 gallon BB. So I could understand if there was no blowoff but not the no bubbling thing. I had absolutely no blowoff or bubbling activity and the brew in my carboy became real creamy looking with a nice krausen after 12 hours. It was fermenting at about 68 deg and temp rose to 72 deg so I know something was happening. But there was no bubbling out my blowoff tube. This was my first brew that did not have an active fermentation.

I am going to take a gravity reading tonight after work and see where i am at?

If I have not hit my target FG and the reading is stable for a few days, which yeast should I purchase to finish up the fermentation.

4 days is too soon to panic. Using your hydrometer is the only reliable way to determine how fermentation is going. Take a reading today then wait a few days and check it again. Be patient and let the yeasties do their thing.

It looks like WLP039 is only available in March and April so that explains why you can't find it. WLP005 or WLP007 would probably be good replacements.

I actually found some local wlp039 that expired aug 4 and am going to pick it up after work and add to my carboy. I will measure gravity and post back later on tonight

update: kind of weird still no airlock bubbles but the gravity is down from 1.060 to 1.018

so looks like I should hurry up and wait for a another week or two.

Your airlock if full to the line and everything is in good and tight? Fermentation will produce CO2 so you should have had some airlock activity. This thing to be concerned about is that oxygen may be finding a way into your carboy through the leak that CO2 is escaping from. Keep us posted on how it turns out.

Lack of airlock activity is usually a sign of a slight leak in the seal of the top rather than lack of fermentation. If your gravity is dropping, fermentation is happening. It will take longer than 4 days to finish out. Give it two weeks for the yeast to finish consuming sugars and clean up after themselves. Your beer will be much better for it.

Even if you have a leak, everything will be fine. The CO2 creates positive pressure. There's not much that can get in and infect your beer while your yeast is producing CO2.

Chad

Chad said:

Lack of airlock activity is usually a sign of a slight leak in the seal of the top rather than lack of fermentation. If your gravity is dropping, fermentation is happening. It will take longer than 4 days to finish out. Give it two weeks for the yeast to finish consuming sugars and clean up after themselves. Your beer will be much better for it.

Even if you have a leak, everything will be fine. The CO2 creates positive pressure. There's not much that can get in and infect your beer while your yeast is producing CO2.

Chad

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This was brewed 10 days ago and fermentation is likely done, or very close. I agree that two weeks in primary is a good idea but I personally wouldn't shrug off the possibility of a leak. If leaks were no big deal then airlocks would be unnecessary. Make sure your rubber stopper is in tight and that your airlock is at the right level and inserted good and tight.

thanks for the tips, I was using a a blow off tube and switched to the orange cap with an s-style airlock. I can change it out to a #10 bung style stopper with a 3 pc airlock and see if that changes anything.

Update: after ten days I went from 1.060 to 1.018
I have then waited fifteen more days and it is stuck at 1.018

fermenting is 67 deg in my closet in the basement.

any tips on what to try next.

That's 70% attenuation. You may not get much more out of it. You could rack to secondary, which can stir up the yeasties and revive fermentation. That could get you a couple more gravity points possibly.

HOOTER said:

This was brewed 10 days ago and fermentation is likely done, or very close. I agree that two weeks in primary is a good idea but I personally wouldn't shrug off the possibility of a leak. If leaks were no big deal then airlocks would be unnecessary. Make sure your rubber stopper is in tight and that your airlock is at the right level and inserted good and tight.

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Airlocks are pretty much unnecessary during primary fermentation (even after fermentation is over - CO2 is heavier than O2, so it stays on top of the beer, still protecting it). Just slap some aluminum foil over that bad boy and you'll be fine. Too many people freak out about simple stuff like this.

HOOTER said:

That's 70% attenuation. You may not get much more out of it. You could rack to secondary, which can stir up the yeasties and revive fermentation. That could get you a couple more gravity points possibly.

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I am fine for trying this anything else that would be worth a try?

Rack to secondary, ignore it for a month. Brew something else to keep yourself busy and your primary full. If it's at 1.018 after a month, well, it was done now and you could have bottled it, but a bit of bulk aging is good, and you don't know until the month is out. If it drops a few more points, fine. Either way, it will be beer.

I racked to secondary brought some yeast with by scraping bottom with my auto siphon.

Yeast settled right out on the bottom of carboy no action at all. I need to decide how long I am going to let it stay at 1.018 we are going on 4 weeks now.

I may just keg it and deal with a small ABV loss, if it wont att any more I am just wasting time. 5.4% instead of close to 6%