Venting due to lack of venting

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DaleJ

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Just need a place to go: Arghhhhh

I'm usually a very patient person, and am very patient in my brewing process.
Except for one area: Yeast Lag.

I get all ninny if I don't see a quick start.

I generally do a starter, and the porter I did a few weeks ago had airlock activity in about 3-4 hours.

Did something different yesterday. Got 2 vials of White Labs WLP001 on Friday, took it out of the fridge about 8AM Saturday, did the shaking-burping thing throughout the day, and pitched into 68F/1.050 wort about 3:30PM.
Now here it is 9AM Sunday and still not activity.
I figured with 2 vials I didn't need a starter.

So, I say: Arghhhhhhhh

Anyway, I feel better now.
 
Did you look at the use before date? If it is older then a starter is a must do as there are not enough viable yeast to do the job. This is especially true if the wort is above 50 points. I also pitch 75 F yeast into 80 F wort as this helps them to get going and then I slowly lower to fermentation temperature.
 
The Use By date is Aug 12, 08.
If I remember correctly, WL dates their stuff about 4 months from when they produce it. So it was maybe about a week old, at worst maybe a month. So it's good from that standpoint.

I've always pitched at ferm temps and it's been working great.

I'm contemplating sticking a heating pad under it to get it up to 70-72 though.
 
I don't believe that at all bill. Pitching more yeast always shortens the lag in my experience. Even if you look at some of my youtube experiments, you'll see the overpitched samples take off way sooner.
 
You know that a short lag time isn't good right? You want the yeast to go through a healthy initial phase of reproduction.

Listen to some of The Brewing Network podcasts with the White Bros. If I recall correctly, you're shooting for around 8-12 hours.
 
That is true if you're pitching a cell count that has to reproduce for a full fermentation which is the case when you pitch two vial of liquid yeast. When you're pitching on a yeast cake or using a huge starter, it's going to take off pretty quickly even if you've oxygenated.
 
Quantity of yeast does affect lag, along with other aspects.

Two vials should have been equal to one vial in a 1L starter.

Either way, it met the "adequate" volume based on the Mr Malty calculator.
And I was at 18+ hrs with no activity.

I've boosted the temp to 70F over the past several hours and am now seeing a little bit of airlock activity.

Told ya I was a ninny.
 
When I re-pitch WLP001 from the last brew at 80 F it takes off in 4 hours or sooner. WLP001 is a great yeast and is used by a lot of micro brewers.
 
It is a great yeast.

I easily ferment 1.04x beers @ 65F with it.

Next time no short cut.

Say, can the WL vials be reused (sterilized, of course) to make slants or freeze yeast?
 
DaleJ said:
It is a great yeast.

I easily ferment 1.04x beers @ 65F with it.

Next time no short cut.

Say, can the WL vials be reused (sterilized, of course) to make slants or freeze yeast?

I use white labs yeast for new starters. I inoculate wort in the sterile tube (canning pressure cooker) and cover with foil at room temp and when that is at high krausen I pitch into a flask of cooled wort (10X) on a stir plate. When that is done I pitch into a 2000 ML flask of cooled wort on a stir plate. I now have enough to pitch into a 5 gallon batch. From then on I can harvest yeast from finished beers and keep some of the master yeast to start new batches.
 
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