Newbie Yeast Pitching Question

Brewed a honey wheat last night and pitched a hydrated yeast packet into the wort when the wort was about 80-85 degrees. At the 12 hour mark I have no activity in the airlock, and it's a white plastic fermenter so I can't see in. I DID shake the bucket after pitching and I did splash in the cold water into the wort as well.

So two questions...

1. Should I consider pitching another yeast packet?

2. If so, do I hydrate it? What temp water do I hydrate it with, assuming my wort is now around 70? When I pitch do I shake it into the wort?

Thanks!

Just wait another day. Do you have water in your airlock?

back in the day I just chucked dry yeast in the bucket when it hit 75 deg F. Sometimes it took a little while to get going....

... Check the seal (lid tight, airlock firmly in place with liquid and all pieces as applicable...)

was it an all grain batch, or extract?

if extract, you should see some activity soon....

if you noticed that there is a leak in your fermenter, just look at the beer, a head should form, and activity should become pretty obvious. (smell it too!)

jfliv said:

back in the day I just chucked dry yeast in the bucket when it hit 75 deg F. Sometimes it took a little while to get going....

... Check the seal (lid tight, airlock firmly in place with liquid and all pieces as applicable...)

was it an all grain batch, or extract?

if extract, you should see some activity soon....

if you noticed that there is a leak in your fermenter, just look at the beer, a head should form, and activity should become pretty obvious. (smell it too!)

Click to expand...

It was extract. There is water in airlock (still clear as water!), and it does seem airtight. It just held a good batch a few days ago.

Wait until 24 hours or go even longer than that? I fear maybe I pitched it too high a temp?

the temp was a little high, but i don't think it would kill your yeast. you can wait a day or two before you need to repitch. i'd wait at least 24-36 hours from initial pitching before even considering re-pitching. you probably just have a bit of a lag

sacks13 said:

I fear maybe I pitched it too high a temp?

Click to expand...

you probably did pitch it a little high. from what I've read, that's called shocking the yeast and it may take some time for them to rebound from the shock (they don't necessarily die, but go dormant until conditions are right, and as an evolutionary trick it takes a little while to come out of the dormant phase to make sure nature isn't fooling it)

Also make sure that you shake up your bucket for 4-5 minutes to really get some dissolved oxygen in there. As John Palmer notes, http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter8-2-1.html,
yeast reproduce at faster rates when a good amount of oxygen is present. you may have a longer lag time because there isn't enough oxygen for them to reproduce quickly.

As other posters have said, wait one day, then re-pitch. try using a starter if you have the chance.

egerrish said:

you probably did pitch it a little high. from what I've read, that's called shocking the yeast and it may take some time for them to rebound from the shock (they don't necessarily die, but go dormant until conditions are right, and as an evolutionary trick it takes a little while to come out of the dormant phase to make sure nature isn't fooling it)

Also make sure that you shake up your bucket for 4-5 minutes to really get some dissolved oxygen in there. As John Palmer notes, http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter8-2-1.html,
yeast reproduce at faster rates when a good amount of oxygen is present. you may have a longer lag time because there isn't enough oxygen for them to reproduce quickly.

As other posters have said, wait one day, then re-pitch. try using a starter if you have the chance.

Click to expand...

Good post. Few questions you bring up for me...

1. To cool the wort I poured it into the fermenter at the same time with 3.5 gallons of cold water. this did create some foam/oxygen. This is right, correct?

2. When the temp came down and I pitched, I also closed the lid and shook for maybe 30 seconds or so. You're suggesting I shake for longer?

sacks13 said:

Good post. Few questions you bring up for me...

1. To cool the wort I poured it into the fermenter at the same time with 3.5 gallons of cold water. this did create some foam/oxygen. This is right, correct?

2. When the temp came down and I pitched, I also closed the lid and shook for maybe 30 seconds or so. You're suggesting I shake for longer?

Click to expand...

good questions to ask. read this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=31145

it's still active and some of us have gone off on the tangent of proper aeration -- there are a lot of other threads on this forum that are devoted just to aeration, so make sure you read up on those as well.

Just pouring the wort into your bucket, pouring water into the wort, and shaking for 30 seconds may not be enough oxygen -- although generally I think you'd still see some activity by now. 4 minutes of aggressive shaking will get enough oxygen in there, and give your arms a workout. check out the basic brewing radio podcast listed in the the other forum for an interesting discussion on aeration with a wyeyeast guy.

It wouldn't hurt to pop off the lid for a few seconds and look in to see if any krausen has formed on the top, and look again in a day. If it hasn't formed by then, then you may need to repitch.

as far as the pitching temp goes, I've always read/heard that 78 degrees is the right temp to pitch the yeast. if you were on the low end of 80-85 you'd be fine. if you were on the higher end of 85+, then it may have shocked it a bit.

I'm assuming that since you hydrated your yeast that you are using dry yeast. dry yeast has a higher likelihood of being dead than liquid yeast. and you can't check it its health by using a smack pack and I'm assuming you didn't use a starter (which is really easy to do, it just takes some forethought). If you use dry yeast in the future, I think i would advise having more than one packet around (and starting it).

That's all I've got!

Thanks egerrish.

I read a few add'l threads and I suppose it's possible I didnt aerate properly.

One open question that seemed confusing is IF I need to re-pitch tonight, how do I do it? Should I hydrate the yeast and proof it before adding? And when I add, can I shake after it's been sitting for 24 hours? This last question seemed open.

shouldn't be a problem aerating it now as long as you have proper sanitation. if you have the yeast and are truly worried about it, go ahead and repitch. it won't hurt it to have an extra pack in there.

Don't get to repitching just yet. I'm sure it's doing fine. Don't worry unless you're 36 hours in.