So, I think I actually have a dead batch of yeast.
A few days ago I got a vial of White Labs WLP500 in the mail, and I stuck it in the fridge until I was ready to make a starter out of it. So yesterday morning I made my usual starter for the yeast, 1 liter of 1.035 gravity wort using extra light DME, and then I let my yeast go for a spin on my stirplate for 24 hours. Then I stuck the starter in the fridge for a couple hours to help the yeast flocculate, but when I took it out of the fridge, nothing had flocculated at all. In fact, if I didn't know for sure that I had added yeast to the flask, I would've sworn it was just a flask of wort and that I had forgotten to add the yeast to it. But the flask definitely smelled like that delicious, bready trappist yeast. So I took a hydrometer reading to see if any activity had occurred, and the starter was still sitting at 1.035.
So just now I went ahead and pitched the whole starter into the wort I brewed up today in the hopes that maybe the yeast will come back to life frankenstein-style and make me some beer. But because I didn't decant the starter, I'm sure I'll end up with some twang in the beer when it's finished.
Do you all think there's any hope for the yeast, or should I pick up a fresh batch of yeast at my LHBS tomorrow? I'm not too eager to wait more than 24 hours of lag time to see if this yeast will have any activity, because the nasties in the air might claim the wort as their own by then.
A few days ago I got a vial of White Labs WLP500 in the mail, and I stuck it in the fridge until I was ready to make a starter out of it. So yesterday morning I made my usual starter for the yeast, 1 liter of 1.035 gravity wort using extra light DME, and then I let my yeast go for a spin on my stirplate for 24 hours. Then I stuck the starter in the fridge for a couple hours to help the yeast flocculate, but when I took it out of the fridge, nothing had flocculated at all. In fact, if I didn't know for sure that I had added yeast to the flask, I would've sworn it was just a flask of wort and that I had forgotten to add the yeast to it. But the flask definitely smelled like that delicious, bready trappist yeast. So I took a hydrometer reading to see if any activity had occurred, and the starter was still sitting at 1.035.
So just now I went ahead and pitched the whole starter into the wort I brewed up today in the hopes that maybe the yeast will come back to life frankenstein-style and make me some beer. But because I didn't decant the starter, I'm sure I'll end up with some twang in the beer when it's finished.
Do you all think there's any hope for the yeast, or should I pick up a fresh batch of yeast at my LHBS tomorrow? I'm not too eager to wait more than 24 hours of lag time to see if this yeast will have any activity, because the nasties in the air might claim the wort as their own by then.