Wyeast London ESB 1638 - Starter Fail?

I started this up yesterday from a propagator pack into 1.8L starter on a stir plate. As of yesterday eve I saw no activity - so I moved the setup to a warmer area. Still no activity overnight. I turned off the stirrer to see if there is any settling after a bit.

Thoughts? Should I look to get another pack of yeast? I wish I had looked at the date on the pack, but I chucked it as there was a lot going on.

Cheers

AT

I rarely see activity on a stir plate. Slight changes in color perhaps, but not so significant that I'd assume I had a bad pack if I didn't see them. Cold crash the starter and see how much of a creamy layer you get.

Not to muddy the water but I ALWAYS see activity on a stirplate (or off a stirplate, that part doesn't seem to affect whether or not I can see if it fermented).

The good thing is that you used Wyeast 1968 which is a VERY high floccer. If it fermented then you should see what looks like egg drop soup in the flask, literally egg-drop-soup-sized flocs of yeast spinning around. It looks way more 'egg droppy' than most yeasts (after it's finished). If it still just looks 'cloudy' then it prob didn't ferment.

SpanishCastleAle said:

Not to muddy the water but I ALWAYS see activity on a stirplate (or off a stirplate, that part doesn't seem to affect whether or not I can see if it fermented).

The good thing is that you used Wyeast 1968 which is a VERY high floccer. If it fermented then you should see what looks like egg drop soup in the flask, literally egg-drop-soup-sized flocs of yeast spinning around. It looks way more 'egg droppy' than most yeasts (after it's finished). If it still just looks 'cloudy' then it prob didn't ferment.

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I dig what you're saying, but I think the take away point of your always seeing signs and my never seeing them is that visual indications are pretty unreliable. There must be a few dozen posts over the last few days on exactly the same script: OP is worried that he can't see any fermentation, gets told to take a gravity reading, and then posts a few days later saying he's already hit 70% attenuation. A lot of factors can affect bubbling airlocks and krausen rings other than yeast metabolism.

Like you said, though, letting the thing settle a bit should give him a better sense of the situation.

So I stuck it in the fridge and the yeast settled out. 24 hours before brewday I added another starter wort to make sure it was still kicking - this time it went bigger - I pitched it and it took off in the primary within 9 hours!

Thanks for all ur suggestions!

Glad it worked out well.

I have had some lackluster starter performances (still some noticable activity) but I never pitch those because I assume the yeast are not healthy. I chill, decant, and step it up and try again (pretty much just like OP did).

Propagator packs in a 1.8L starter can be lackluster. You may want to start smaller and always step up (with Propagators, Activators are fine with one 1.8L starter). With Propagator packs I make a 800mL-1L starter and then step it up to 1.8L. I'm doing the 'step' on one tonight.