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Bruiz54

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Ok so I have been encountering some problems that I have never encountered before.
First I made my first yeast starter for a lager that I was planning on doing. The lager yeast I planed on using was a white labs American Lager yeast strain. I stored it at 60 deg F by accident for like a week. I accidently left the vile of yeast in my Ale Freezer. Oops. But I figured it was ok so I tried my hand at making a yeast starter. I sanatized it and used 2 cups of Dry Malt extract to I think a quart of water. The SPG was 1.044. No its been several days and there was no head on the growler I stored it in. I do not think it even fermented. So whats up with this? Any ideas?
OK now on to problem number 2. I made what I think is a pretty good Pale ale. MMM it tasted good at bottling. I decided to try and switch from bottling with Corn Sugar to dry malt extract. OK so Hear is the deal. I had this ale in the primary for about two weeks and then transfered to a secondary for about a month before I bottled. So I transfered it from the secondary to the bottling buvcket. I made sure that I did not get too much of the yeast at the bottom of the secondary into the bucket before. Now I have done this procedures before with other ales, but everytime I bottle I use corn sugar. I bottled it wiith 1 1/2 cups of light dry malt extract. I always bottle with a few clear bottles so I can see whats going on. So I checked the botles the other day Day three and I noticed that the layer of yeast at the botttom was very thin. Thinner than it normally is. Today is day four agter bottleing and I tried one and it was really flat. No hint of carbonation. I have tried beers early before at day fr and there has alaways been a little bit of caarbonation. Should I be concerned? IF it does not carbonate what should I do? IS dry malt extract bad to bottle with? Thanks guys!
 
Sometimes you will not see much krausen when making starters. Do you see any activity,like tiny bubbles rising to the surface? Did you swirl it often which helps the yeast uptake some O2 in the growing stage. If you use an airlock I would remove it and use foil over the top.

DME for carbonation works but takes quite a bit longer. I would expect it to be at least 3 weeks and possibly more before carbonation is good when priming with DME.
 
Almost every starter I've ever made has fermented out while I wasn't looking, so I wouldn't worry about it.

When you use DME to prime, expect it to take at least 4 weeks before you start getting good carbonation. It's not bad to bottle with, it just takes more time is all. Some people say you get more malty flavor when you bottle with it, but it's debatable.
 
If you're really concerned that the starter didnt' ferment, you can check the SG. If it's under 1.020, then it did. It's possible that the yeast froze and will not work, but it's unlikely. It'll probably just take longer to get going.

I agree with the others on priming- forget the bottles for at least two weeks, then check them. Then check them again in four weeks, and you should be fine!
 
It's pretty rare that I'll see krausen on a starter unless I'm using a lot of washed slurry and plan on pitching HUGE.

I never bottled with DME, but it seems that most folks around here lean towards priming sugar.
 
OK So I will check the SPG today sometime for the starter, and try not to worry. Thanks guys. I just assumed I was making a small beer so I thought the activity would be there.
Since I secondary ferment I will likely use corn sugar from now on. I just thought that DME would give me more malty and would behave similar to sugar. Still why is the layer of yeast at the bottom so thin?
Thanks guys :ban:
 
...Still why is the layer of yeast at the bottom so thin?
The yeast are still in suspension eating the extract you added. They won't flocculate until all the new food is gone. In addition to this, the longer clearing time removes more yeast from the beer so there will be less sediment in the bottles.
 
First I made my first yeast starter for a lager that I was planning on doing. The lager yeast I planed on using was a white labs American Lager yeast strain. I stored it at 60 deg F by accident for like a week. I accidently left the vile of yeast in my Ale Freezer. Oops. But I figured it was ok so I tried my hand at making a yeast starter. I sanatized it and used 2 cups of Dry Malt extract to I think a quart of water. The SPG was 1.044. No its been several days and there was no head on the growler I stored it in. I do not think it even fermented. So whats up with this? Any ideas?

I don't have a ton of experience with lagers, but from what I do have, you won't really get a krausen like you would with a normal ale yeast. Remember, all the activity is going on at the bottom of the fermentation vessel and not at the top.
 
WOW that is a really good point and I did not think of that cause this is my first lager. LOL now I feel a little stupid. DME takes too damn loing to carbonate with I decided. I do nto want to wait an adition 4 weaks after I have secondaried it for so long. LOL that flat beer tasted pretty damn good. Nice floral notes from the dry hopping MMM its gonna be good. I just hope that there is a lot of yeast in suspention and it will carbonate. It just looks different from other batches where I sued cornsugar but apparently thats just DME.
 
Yup, +1 on the DME. I've used it one to prime so far, and was surprised to find it flat at 3 weeks. This past weekend was 5 weeks and it had a very good carbonation level. People say the malty flavor is debatable, but I definitely noticed a difference now as opposed to when I bottled. Much heavier malt backbone, which is kind of too band since it's a red. Still tasty though.
 
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