36 hours since pitching, no visible acitivity, should I repitch ?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

merkaba

Member
Joined
Sep 10, 2006
Messages
15
Reaction score
0
Location
Colorado
I has been at least 36 hours since I pitched yeast and there is no fermentation going on. I just used White Labs liquid yeast and did not make a starter. I had the yeast shipped from CA to CO. took 3 days. The yeast bottle felt slightly cool when it arrived but was not really that cold. So I'm wondering if the yeast died before I got it.

Wait longer or repitch now ?
Thanks
 
I used a while labs Kolsch yeast and it took 27 hours to get active bubbling.

Are you using a carboy or a bucket? What was the temp of the wort when you pitched?
 
I used a while labs Kolsch yeast and it took 27 hours to get active bubbling.

Are you using a carboy or a bucket? What was the temp of the wort when you pitched?
 
I've had crap luck w/ liquid yeasts. Give it another day, and if nothing happens, repitch with rehydrated dry yeast.
 
It usually takes 24 hrs for my fermentation to get going using White Labs yeast with no starter.

If you are using a glass carboy, simply look at the sides of the carboy near the very bottom, if you see what looks to be a dusting of yeast settling on the side, then it will take off soon. Just leave it alone. If not, then you need to repitch. In 12 years, I have only had 1 bad batch of liquid yeast.
 
After 48 hours it still looked completely dead. I bought some dry yeast from a local shop and 5 hours later its fermenting good. It sounds rare to get a bad batch of white labs liquid yeast, but I have no idea what else it could have been. temps were OK when I pitched, etc. It just never took off.
I'll be keeping some dry yeast in the fridge as back up from now on.
 
Evan! said:
I've had crap luck w/ liquid yeasts. Give it another day, and if nothing happens, repitch with rehydrated dry yeast.

Evan!,
Have you been making starters and properly aerating you wort before pitching the yeast?? I've been using White Labs yeast for 13 years now and I've never had a batch fail to ferment... I HAVE had a batch take 3 days to reach full fermentation because I didn't make a starter and didn't aerate my wort fully... it was also the worst beer I've ever made... Banana flavors do not belong in a Robust Porter IMO... they were so strong the roast malt flavors couldn't be tasted till the beer aged about 4 months!!!

I started making 2 L starters using a magnetic stirrer and running my filtered air pump for a minimum of 30 minutes before pitching and my lag times are down to less than 1 hour on average, 2 hours for high OG batches (1.085 and up)...

merkaba,
It is possible you got a vial of yeast that was cooked in shipping (during the warmer months I get an ice pack added to the shipment, just to be safe)... but most likely the beer would have started in the next 24 hours anyway... that is NOT the best scenario as you can guess, but it would still be beer... the biggest problem with under-pitching (a vial instead of a starter) is that yeast make more esters when low pitching rates are used, they also make more esters when they are under-oxygenated and when they are fermented at higher temperatures... so you can imagine that a single vial pitched into low oxygen wort and fermented at 78 F can REALLY pump out some flavors... just FYI

I'd look into making starters and trying to get as much O2 in your wort as possible to help make your beer the best that it can be!!

HTH,
:mug:
mikey
 
I have had success with both liquid and dry yeasts. With the liquid you must make a starter. With dry yeast a starter is not needed, simply make a slurry and pitch, 2 - 4 hours later, bubbles. I'm not sure what the benefits of liq yeast are. It would seem one would be more apt to infect a liq yeast with the procedure involved. In addition the price difference is considerable.
 
When using wyeast's big smack packs I don't even bother with a starter.

That said, how was it shipped? I just got my shipment that was sent in the mail (Canada) and the final destination ended up being our "superbox's" parcel slot in 30 degree heast for 3 hours. Smack pack wasn't warm yet but close call. It was sitting on the gel pack. Another hour and it probably would have been toast.

What was the expiry on the smack pack? The above smackpack was mishipped. Someone sent me 3538 instead of 3638. 3538 besides being a very differant yeast is also a discontinued yeast and the packaged date was july of 05! (Yes, they will be mailing me the corect yeast soon and normally they ship new yeast, that was from their discount stock).
 
It is hard to kill yeast completely. I have saved yeast cake for almost a year and it still fermented. I also have left a White Labs vial in my garage for 3 days in 90 degree heat. I freaked and made a starter and the vial still had live yeast in it. It amazed me.

But , I did have 1 vial in 12 years that arrived completely dead. I was just a beginner then and I let it sit for a week and it never started fermenting. So my conclusion is that the vial had to have been severely mistreated to kill all the yeast.

As for oxygenating the wort......I have never done anything more than put a balloon over the top of the carboy and shake the crap out of the wort before I pitch the yeast. I put a White Labs vial on my kitchen counter about an hour before I start brewing. Usually it sits 3-6 hours before I pitch it. I shake the carboy for about 5 mins and then shake the white labs vial and dump it right in.

I put the carboy in the fridge, put in the blow-off tube and set the fridge for the optimum temp. I almost always get a good fermentation somewhere near 24 hours. I have made starters and fermentation usually starts 3-6 hours with the starter. But I have never been able to notice anything in the flavor that justifies the extra time and effort of making a starter. If I brew anything heavier than 1.060, I use a starter.
 
Sean said:
I'm not sure what the benefits of liq yeast are. It would seem one would be more apt to infect a liq yeast with the procedure involved. In addition the price difference is considerable.

I'm also not sure what the benefits of liquid yeast are.

http://realbeer.com/jjpalmer/Howtobrew.html says,
"Liquid yeast is often favored over dry yeast because of the greater number and variety of yeast strains available. Liquid yeast allows for greater tailoring of the beer to a particular style."

it also says, "All liquid yeast needs to be pitched to a starter wort to ensure adequate cell counts for a good fermentation. "

which I did not do. If I use liquid yeast again I will definitely make a starter.
 
I have used dry yeast for many years with good results (and yes, having extra yeast, and of course hops, in the frig is a good idea). Only recently have I used liquid smack paks, to expand my experience (and tastes) in brewing. I have noticed a longer lag with the liquid yeasts, but never had one that failed. Some books call for salvaging and re-pitching the liquid yeasts, which is one of their advantages (tried once, but could not re-pitch in the recommended time). However, all-in-all, the dry yeast have always had a quick start and have produced good beer. I do believe some of me best brew batches were with liquid yeasts, buy I mainly use the dry ones because of their quick start and general reliability.

One reason I like the dry is that I do not have to plan real far in advance (my schedule gets tight sometimes) and can brew without the worry of getting the liquid smack pak started hours in advance
 
Back
Top