Wyeast 2633 no activity after 50 hours

So I'm a relative newb. This is my second all grain batch, 1st lager, 1st time using liquid yeast. Our house is cold right now so I figured I'd take advantage of the conditions and tried a Vienna lager.

The recipe is a smash, 100% Vienna malt with magnum for bittering at 60min. Brew day went great, mashed for 1 hour at 66/67C, 90 min boil with 15g magnum at 60. Ended up with 22 litres of wort with SG of 1.070.

This was much higher than I was expecting (I was a little freestyle with my recipe) and I only had 1 smack pack of 2633. So I cooled to about 20c and pitched. The pack was smacked several hours in advance and I thought it had begun to swell but only a little (maybe I was imagining it). I aerated by pouring between the brew kettle and fv several times, my normal routine which works great. After pitching I allowed it to cool naturally to about 12C which is where it's sat now. I know I under pitched, but this was all I had so I went with the slightly warmer pitching temp to try to help the yeast and ordered some backup S-23 just in case (should arrive tomorrow).

There has been zero airlock activity, I waited 48 hours and took a gravity reading, we're still at 1.070. So what's going on? Like I said I know I under pitched but I would have expected some activity. The pack of yeast was well within date, I'd had it for less than a week and it had been stored in the fridge all of that time. I live in the UK so with the current weather I don't think it would have been exposed to problem temperatures during shipping. The store is one of the UKs biggest online retailers so their stock turnover should be ok.

So, what should I do? I will have the S-23 option probably tomorrow. I have just stirred the FV just in case the 2633 is all stuck at the bottom but I'm doubting this is any kind of fix.


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Lager yeast undoubtedly starts much slower than ale yeast in my experience. Under pitching definitely doesn't help. If you are still having doubts pitch the 23 when it comes in.

Also keep in mind that it can take upto 72hrs to see visible signs of fermentation so it's possible you're just stressing over a non issue. I'd wait till your other yeast pack comes in then take a gravity reading and see if you have any activity before pitching the second batch.
But again like DeepCDan said lagers are alower starting plus under pitching will cause even slower start so you've kind of already shot yourself in both feet and hoping for the best. I think it will be fine given a bit more time but if you've gone 72hrs without signs of fermentation or the gravity dropping any I would make a proper starter and Repitch.


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Thanks guys, guess I need to sit tight for a while yet. I suppose my next question is; if, after 72 hours the gravity hasn't changed, how should I re-pitch? I've read if the wort hasn't started to ferment, it's OK to aerate again. I could even rack off the trub and the old yeast, bring back to a boil, cool and start from that point. Is that a crazy suggestion?

Cheers

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Also, s-23 is a dry yeast. I have 2 packs coming, do I need to make a starter? I was planning to simply rehydrate both packs and throw it in.

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No there is no need to make a starter with dry yeast. Just rehydrate and pitch as usual.

Not sure about re oxygenating the wort. I would "assume" it would be ok but not having done it myself I really wouldn't want to point you one way or the other. Could be the greatest thing since sliced bread.....or.not.......


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We'll it seems the wisdom of experience is borne out. Fermentation has begun... Slowly. Hopefully we'll be motoring along nicely in a day or two.


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Not making a starter is most likely the reason for the slow fermentation. I just made a Vienna Lager myself and dumped a 1 gallon starter into it. It took right off!

Yeah I realise that, severe regret going on right now. Oh well I'll just have to make another batch


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Korszun said:

Yeah I realise that, Oh well I'll just have to make another batch

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There's always a reason to brew another batch. Mainly, you'll want that carbing, conditioning, and aging, while you drink this batch Gotta start that pipeline sometime might as well be now.

Well, we're bubbling along at a good rate now. As a precursor, what if the yeast don't finish the job?

Also If I was to brew this or something similar again, would the yeast in the primary be good to harvest or have my mistakes on this batch ruined the chances of having another go?



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You can warm the beer up in the last 1/3 of fermentation to make sure it finishes up and cleans the intermediary compounds ( ie diacetyl)

Korszun said:

Well, we're bubbling along at a good rate now. As a precursor, what if the yeast don't finish the job?

Also If I was to brew this or something similar again, would the yeast in the primary be good to harvest or have my mistakes on this batch ruined the chances of having another go?



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+1 to what aerationNation said to get your beer to finish.

As long as the beer finishes and you don't notice any off tasting flavors or questionable smells I would think it would be fine to use the slurry for another batch.


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So I'll keep an eye on it, do a gravity reading every few days, when it gets down to about 1030, put it on my heat pad and hold it at, 15C? 20C? Warmer? Until it finishes. Then go to secondary and lager for several weeks?

Thanks guys!

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had a similar experience brewing a Belgian wit where the recipe called for white labs 400 Belgian ale yeast and due to lack of product had to resort to Hefe IV yeast. It took 5 days to take off very slowly and was in primary for 4 weeks. Was very concerned about end result. I did not use a starter but moving forward, I will, using liquid yeast. Actually just tried a bottle tonight of the frankenbrew and it was great after a trainwreck of a brewing process . Lesson learned.... always use a starter, ferment at as close to proper temp as possible and most important, be patient.

Korszun said:

So I'll keep an eye on it, do a gravity reading every few days, when it gets down to about 1030, put it on my heat pad and hold it at, 15C? 20C? Warmer? Until it finishes. Then go to secondary and lager for several weeks?

Thanks guys!

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Click to expand...

Yessir 19-20C should be good, just leave it until it's finished. You can rack to secondary to lager or you can just transfer to a keg if you have it and lager in that (my preferred method).

Well we're almost a week in, slowed down a little but still fermenting healthily. Tested this morning and we were just a shade under 1030, still tonnes of yeast in suspension so I'm not going to warm yet. Think I'll keep a close eye on it, hopefully we'll get down to a good fg as I like my lagers dry. Then I'll warm for a couple of days for a d rest, rack to secondary and try to find somewhere cold to lager. Unfortunately the weather here has just taken a turn for the better and we'll see 18C outside in the middle of the day. Still I think I will be able to find somewhere cooler than the room where the primary is so we'll just have to see how it turns out.

Any recommendations for a beer with this harvested yeast? We may not have the temperatures for lager again here until later in the year.

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So, my primary fermentation has gone pretty well after a slow start. Took a gravity reading yesterday and it was down to 1016. As it had slowed right down, I decided to start the d rest and put on a brew belt to warm things up.

Couple of questions: after the d rest I'm planning to lager in a secondary. I'll use a bottling bucket for this as I'm going to bottle this batch (I don't have a kegerator yet so I can chill bottles in the fridge). Is this a good idea considering the bucket will have a good bit of headroom (containing O2)? Second question is what could I brew with the 2633 slurry? I was thinking another lager, maybe a darker style than the Vienna? Anyone got a recipe?

Cheers

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