itsernst

Recipes 

So i just made the White House Honey Ale and it is sitting in primary currently but there is no activity. Recipe calls for Wyeast 1332, which and the ferm temps say they are 65-75F. I have it right around 64 right and there is no activity whatsoever. Being the first liquid yeast brew I have done, I proactively purchased some White Labs WLP041, Northwest Ale which seems like a similiar yeast strain. White labs says you don't need to create a starter with their yeast, however from searching this board I know it is very much a best practice.

I know 36 hours is the standard rule for allowing yeast to kick off, but do you think I could just pitch the white labs or should i get a starter ready? In addition, I am topped off at 5 Gallons right now, so what is the recommended starter size to create be? Would .5L with about 2oz of DME be acceptable?

__________________
Bottled:
Chinook IPA
White House Honey Ale
Pumpkin Ale

Kegged
Nada!
Secondary
Nada!

Primary
Brassberry Lambic

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TxBrewHouse

Recipes 

All I ever use is white labs and never make a starter. I just pitch right out of the vial. And have never had any problems out of 12 carboys with liquid yeastI had issues with a high gravity boch and under pitched. But other than that. They all took about 36 hours.

gcdowd

Recipes 

I would always do a starter with liquid yeast but people have been fine without one. What is your OG? The higher the OG, the more yeast you would need, which would warrant a starter. In any event, you're not even close to the point where you should start worrying. Fermentation can take as long as 72 hours to show signs. But if you are looking for bubbles out of your airlock then stop right there. Airlocks are vents for CO2, not gauges for fermentation activity. The only way to know fermentation is occurring is to take a hydrometer reading.

__________________
God invented whiskey to keep the Irish from ruling the world.

BrewerBear

Recipes 

It can take up to 72 hours not 36,also it's a white house ale.When is the last time the government did anything on time?

bad67z

Recipes 

How can you tell there is not fermentation taking place?.... What was your og? Have you take a hydrometer reading today? And last but not least "an airlock is not a fermentation indicator.

Sorry all the questions I have seen Revvy and many other members ask on similar threads. I figured I get the out of the way in one post.

chalmer9

Recipes 

Was the wort cool enough when you pitched your yeast? Yeast can take awhile if not.

itsernst

Recipes 

Thanks for the replies. I couldn't sleep so I went and took a look at it and finally seeing some krausen around the bucket. OG was 1.061 just under what they stated, 1.062

__________________
Bottled:
Chinook IPA
White House Honey Ale
Pumpkin Ale

Kegged
Nada!
Secondary
Nada!

Primary
Brassberry Lambic

Up Next

djfriesen

Recipes 

You're fine. At day 3, then you can start to be worried. Though a starter will help alleviate this problem, as it helps prove viability and gets the yeasts primed for the big job ahead of them.

edit: if you have questions about yeast pitching rates/starter sizes, etc. go to mrmalty.com. There are lots of nice tools and a lot of good info there about our little buddies.

kh54s10

Recipes 

Check mrmalty.com and yeastcalc.com for information on making starters. At 1.061 you should use a pretty large starter. The lag time increases with the degree to which you underpitch.

The yeast will first reproduce to cell counts needed to ferment then do the fermentation.

kappclark

Recipes 

A starter is a good idea for liquid yeast, and should give a shorter lag time..give it another day

__________________
Bill Clark
Windham, VT