I have a question about fermentation speed. In september, I brewed an ESB with a starting gravity around 1.055. I used the wyeast 1968 strain cause I heard it had a good flavor profile. After pitching the yeast, I noticed a long lag time. It was close to 48 hours before I started seeing airlock activity. I was concerned, but I let it go anyway. The fermentation was steady, but also quite slow considering the gravity of the beer. There still was airlock activity almost 2 weeks after pitching. Anyhow, forward 5 weeks, the beer turned out great. I attributed the slow fermentation due to not making a starter. I then tried washing the yeast and storing it to use it again.
So last week I decided to brew another English beer. I was a bit short on cash so I decided to do a standard bitter using the same yeast. This time, I made a 1 quart starter to make sure the yeast I washed the month before was viable and not too contaminated. So I pitch the yeast in the starter after letting it warm up a bit, and unsurprisingly, the I see activity within a few hours. By the next day, the starter was really foaming up nicely so I new the yeast was at least in good shape. I brewed the standard bitter and by the evening, I was ready to pitch the yeast. I gave it a good whiff to make sure I didn't detect any funky smells which would indicate obvious infection and came out clean.
So then I pitched it... and waited... and waited... Well, it took another 36 hours before I saw any airlock activity. And now that it's been over a week since I pitched, there is still airlock activity. This beer had a starting gravity around 1.044. With this gravity, and using a quart starter, thsi yeast should have been done by now. What is the matter with it?
So last week I decided to brew another English beer. I was a bit short on cash so I decided to do a standard bitter using the same yeast. This time, I made a 1 quart starter to make sure the yeast I washed the month before was viable and not too contaminated. So I pitch the yeast in the starter after letting it warm up a bit, and unsurprisingly, the I see activity within a few hours. By the next day, the starter was really foaming up nicely so I new the yeast was at least in good shape. I brewed the standard bitter and by the evening, I was ready to pitch the yeast. I gave it a good whiff to make sure I didn't detect any funky smells which would indicate obvious infection and came out clean.
So then I pitched it... and waited... and waited... Well, it took another 36 hours before I saw any airlock activity. And now that it's been over a week since I pitched, there is still airlock activity. This beer had a starting gravity around 1.044. With this gravity, and using a quart starter, thsi yeast should have been done by now. What is the matter with it?