Trappist Yeast too cold?

Hi,

I'm on my fourth batch, I'm brewing a Belgian Ale kit that I got from morebeer in Riverside, CA.

For my yeast, I'm using White Labs - Trappist Ale Yeast (WLP500). So when I pitched my room was ridiculously hot (I have no AC, unfortunately, so I'm miserable too and I also work out in the room, so it drives the temp higher). So when I pitched the yeast yesterday, I was at 70 degrees, however during the night my temperature rose to about 76-80 degrees on my carboy.

I know Belgian yeast are somewhat more adaptable to warmer temperatures but I thought my temp was too high (I don't want a ridiculous amount of bubble gum/banana flavors in my beer). So in response, I pulled out an old plastic container, put the carboy in there, filled it with ice water, then put a wet t-shirt on it, then used a fan to create a swamp-cooling effect.

Right now, my temperature is as at 64-68 degrees on my carboy, there is currently no yeast activity. What do you think? Is it too cold for this yeast strain? or should I let them do their thing in the current temp?

Thanks for helping a newbie guys!

Belgian yeasts are finicky. It's not uncommon for them to quit early when chilled. 76-80 is also not uncommon. Let it warm to low 70's and see if they pick it back up.

And for next time, pitch cold, like low 60's and keep the ambient cool so they peak in the low 70's.

So what happens if they quit early? Does that mean I have to get another thing of yeast from the store?

Have you pulled a hydrometer sample? At those temps it's possible it's already done. Unlikely, but possible.

Try warming it before repitching. It's possible they'll wake back up. If that doesn't work, try scraping some yeast off the top, pitch it into a 1-2L starter, and repitch that actively fermenting yeast (at ~12 hours or so) back into the main batch.

While labs gives 65°-72° to be the optimum range for that strain, so I would think the temp is fine. Did you make a starter? I believe that strain can be slow to start without one.

http://www.whitelabs.com/beer/strains_wlp500.html

LLBeanJ said:

While labs gives 65°-72° to be the optimum range for that strain, so I would think the temp is fine. Did you make a starter? I believe that strain can be slow to start without one.

http://www.whitelabs.com/beer/strains_wlp500.html

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Its been 24 hours since I pitched, no activity (yet). I was going to do a yeast starter but the place I was at was out of the beakers and they kinda told me I didn't need one with the kind of brew I was doing. So I just took their word, brewed and pitched out of the bottle.

My OG reading was at 1.055 btw.

That would explain the slow start. I'm sure it will be fine once it takes off, but you did underpitch by quite a bit if it was a 5 gallon batch. Check out yeastcalc.com and you'll see what I'm talking about. Unless you're making small batches, a starter should be SOP when using liquid yeast.

LLBeanJ said:

That would explain the slow start. I'm sure it will be fine once it takes off, but you did underpitch by quite a bit if it was a 5 gallon batch. Check out yeastcalc.com and you'll see what I'm talking about. Unless you're making small batches, a starter should be SOP when using liquid yeast.

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You think it might be better if I pitched another thing of trappist yeast in there if it was under-pitched or just wait it out?

shattstar03 said:

You think it might be better if I pitched another thing of trappist yeast in there if it was under-pitched or just wait it out?

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It has only been 24 hours? Give it some more time. There are many many many threads on here about fermentation taking up to 3 days to start if you under pitched.

If you've got another vial handy or can get one fairly easily, you may want to. Other than being out $7-$8 it can only help.

I just brewed a batch and used the same yeast and it started slow...36-40 hours but it going like crazy right now. I pitched around 65 and it is sitting in a 72 degree ambient closet now.

If you had a big temp drop, it is probably worth the effort to gently rock the fermenter in a circular motion to stir up any settled yeast. Other than that, just leave it alone.

Wow, didn't realize you didn't have activity yet...I thought your temp rise was yeast-induced. You can completely ignore all of my advice above, haha.

These guys are right - underpitch. Give it time and/or pitch another vial. Did you aerate at all? Big beers need an O2 boost.

TyTanium said:

Wow, didn't realize you didn't have activity yet...I thought your temp rise was yeast-induced. You can completely ignore all of my advice above, haha.

These guys are right - underpitch. Give it time and/or pitch another vial. Did you aerate at all? Big beers need an O2 boost.

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Well for aeration I gave it a pretty darn good shake for 1.5 mins which killed my arms pretty good

Thanks so much for the advice guys, means a lot to me!

I'd say under-pitched. I used this very yeast on my last brew and had activity within 9 hrs at 65deg. It ate through 70 points of gravity in a week. I made a 2l starter for that one.

One thing to note for starters is you don't need some special vessel to make them in unless you're using a stir plate and require a flat bottom for the bar. You can make it in any food-grade plastic container that is cleaned and sanitized properly.

shattstar03 said:

Well for aeration I gave it a pretty darn good shake for 1.5 mins which killed my arms pretty good

Thanks so much for the advice guys, means a lot to me!

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So... is it fermenting now?

You don't always have to have a starter for liquid yeast. I've used this yeast before without a starter and thought it turned out quite nicely. Sometimes its good to 'stress out' the yeasties for this type of beer. IMO