I am about to do my third batch of an American Lite Lager, and for the previous two batches I have used White Labs WLP840 as the strain of choice. Both of these batches I used a starter. This time I used one of the slants I created from the original WLP840 liquid culture. The slant has been kept in my refrigerator for less than three months. This time I also decided to move my DIY stir plate to my fermentation fridge because I do not have any beer fermenting, so I thought I would create stronger healthier yeast because the approximate fridge temp is just under 50F probably around 48F. I took a refractometer reading using my newly acquired refractometer. Before I put the slant into the flask, I took a reading using the refractometer and I had a brix reading of 13.80 which using this calculator I had a gravity of about 1.056 which if I understand correctly is a very high starting/original gravity.
Well, I have had the stir plate in the fridge for ~ 72 hours now been turning the stir plate off/on in 12 hour increments, and I decided to take a reading this morning using the refractometer, and to my surprise I got the same reading as I did before I pitched the yeast into the starter. Keep in mind this is my first time using a refractometer, and I am hoping that this is probably normal, but I can not tell if the substance on the bottom of the flask is yeast or if it is just the DME settling to the bottom of the flask. Here is a picture of what I am dealing with.
Oh, BTW happy new years HBT
Well, I have had the stir plate in the fridge for ~ 72 hours now been turning the stir plate off/on in 12 hour increments, and I decided to take a reading this morning using the refractometer, and to my surprise I got the same reading as I did before I pitched the yeast into the starter. Keep in mind this is my first time using a refractometer, and I am hoping that this is probably normal, but I can not tell if the substance on the bottom of the flask is yeast or if it is just the DME settling to the bottom of the flask. Here is a picture of what I am dealing with.
Oh, BTW happy new years HBT
