Yeast Reconsititution Fail?

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.

stephelton

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 31, 2008
Messages
299
Reaction score
8
Location
Colorado Springs
When racking my last Irish Red Ale to its secondary fermenter last November, I attempted to take a sample of the yeast for reconstitution later. On monday, I attempted to make a starter out of it. So far, I don't see any visible signs of yeast activity, though there does appear to be more 'sludge' at the bottom of my 1/2 gallon jug. I was hoping to do a brew later tonight (after Lost ;) but I'm having second thoughts about the viability of the yeast.

Is the lack of visible activity a sure sign (after 2 days) that I failed somewhere?

I'll go into detail about what exactly I did if anyone cares to hear it :)

Thanks!
 
Starters can ferment pretty quick. Check your gravity and see where you're at. Assuming you aimed for around 1.04, you ought to be around 1.01X or so.
 
Starters can go very quickly. I've had a couple that worked, but I missed activity entirely.
 
yeah, huge fail. sg is where it was.

So... i followed the directions here:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/yeast-washing-illustrated-41768/

And am wondering... if the water I used was about 45 degrees F, and the yeast was at about 70, would my pouring that water have shocked the yeast? I don't know what else I could have done wrong... I used sugar for the yeast to munch on in my starter, (and although that may not be optimal) I'm sure that's fine. The SG was a lot higher than I calculated (about 1.06)...
 
Sugar is definitely not good to make starters with for other reasons, but I"m thinking the 25 degree difference definitely could have shocked them.
 
That's what I'm thinking. I meant to pick up some light DME for starters last time I was at the LHS, forgot to. Guess I'll be going back there for yeast tomorrow anyway, I'll grab some for next time. Bummer..! I've got a bunch of other yeast I treated in the same manner, probably not any good either.

Thanks for the tips.
 
Are you running a stirplate? I have found that a stirplate (like the cheap/free ghetto ones some of us fab around here) are immensely helpful for building up wort from a tiny amount of live cells.
 
Back
Top