Slow starter

Ok, maybe I'm being impatient, but I pitched my yeast (White Labs Trappist - WLP500) last night to 2 qts of starter. I expected to see either significant activity or evidence of it this morning. Nothing. Yeast and starter both at room temp when pitched. I pumped some oxygen into it before pitching. I figure since White Labs calls the vial a "pitchable" yeast, meaning you should be able to throw it into 5 gal, that 2 qt should be nothing for it to handle. If it's just in a normal lag phase how long would it take to start 5 gal? Am I worrying needlessly? I'd RDWHAB if I had some (my first batch is in the secondary) and I'm at work.

Thanks.

Like you said RDWHAHB!

It's probubly just eating up the oxygen you gave it and will start fermenting to. I HATE how they call those things 'pitchable yeast'. Sure, you could pitch it........if you want a long lag time.

You're doing fine, I bet it'll either be bubbling tonight or tomorrow.

Oh, what was the gravity of your starter??

Sometimes I don't see much activity with my starters, sometimes I see lots of activity. There are several factors. I mean sometimes they just ferment out so quickly, that you just plain ole miss the activity.

It's possible that the yeast wasn't very viable, and it's taking a little time to take off. There can be some lag. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

If you are ultra-worried, I guess you could take a gravity reading.

Warped04 said:

Sometimes I don't see much activity with my starters, sometimes I see lots of activity. There are several factors. I mean sometimes they just ferment out so quickly, that you just plain ole miss the activity.

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I agree. We're dealing with living things, and there's no predictability with living things. I've been harvesting a lot of pacman from bottles, and each batch is different. I've only had one of 5 batches that actually had a Krauzen in my flask that I actually saw, some had rings after they fell, some didn't, all the yeasties ver viable....It's the same with starters.

Thanks for the reassurance. OG of the starter was about 1.040.

My starters are always inconsistent. One thing that has helped is smacking the pack before pitching. I live about 30 min from my LHBS. When I get in the car, I smack the pack. By the time I get home, the pack is showing signs of swelling. I let it swell some more, then pitch it into my flask of extra light DME "wort". I usually dont see activity for a while, and almost always miss fermentation. No worries, RDWHAHB!

Anytime I've ever bought a white labs tube, I've been able to bring it to temperature and pitch it with very little lag. One time I got lazy and pitched it straight from the fridge and it only lagged for about 9 hrs before fermentation started. relax, dont worry, the yeasts know what they're doing.

I usually have lag from some WL tubes....this strain lagged when I first pitched it. I just re-pitched it from a primary fermentation and it went off without a hitch. But, the first pitch from the tube was over 24 hours before I saw anything.

Edcculus said:

One thing that has helped is smacking the pack before pitching. I live about 30 min from my LHBS. When I get in the car, I smack the pack. By the time I get home, the pack is showing signs of swelling....RDWHAHB!

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I can't smack a White Labs tube. That's what I like about the Wyeast smack packs. You can tell the yeasts are busy before you even throw them into the starter.

cee3 said:

I can't smack a White Labs tube. That's what I like about the Wyeast smack packs. You can tell the yeasts are busy before you even throw them into the starter.

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I like it..Yeasts getting busy...

Maybe you should play some Barry White to them.

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I used the WLP004 for my Ale that is in the conical right now. It was slow to start when I did the starter but I couldnt brew on the day I wanted so I put it in the fridge. 2 weeks later I had time to brew and I wanted to test the starter I decanted and made a 2 cup starter of it took off right away , pitched it and had active(overly) in 1 1/2 hours.Sometimes it just takes a while.