My Poor yeast. Do you think it will have life?

About two weeks ago I bought a Little Kings Cream Ale clone kit fro Austin Home Brewer. I didn't give much thought to AHB being in Texas and of course we had a major heat wave move in. I also timed the order wrong, so it sat over a weekend in a UPS warehouse. Now I did get one of those sealed up cold packs with it, but when it came that Monday it felt as warm as the outside air, so it was probably 82-90 degrees F. I put it in the fridge and now I am ready to brew tomorrow or Sat. I have generally come to not making starters for low gravity beers, but in this case it is called for.

Question: If I am using aluminum foil to cover my 1000 ml flask as directed, how can I tell I have activity? I never get Kruse off of my starters, or if I do I am missing them. How can I tell it's alive with out and airlock?

You should have a yeast or alcohol smell.

Question: If I am using aluminum foil to cover my 1000 ml flask as directed, how can I tell I have activity? I never get Kruse off of my starters, or if I do I am missing them. How can I tell it's alive with out and airlock?

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You will see yeast build up in the bottom of the flask. Be sure to swirl your flask around fairly frequently as this will help your starter. Not violently, as you don't want to oxygenate it, but just enough to suspend the yeast that has settled out.

weirdboy said:

You will see yeast build up in the bottom of the flask. Be sure to swirl your flask around fairly frequently as this will help your starter. Not violently, as you don't want to oxygenate it, but just enough to suspend the yeast that has settled out.

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Actually you do want to oxygenate the starter this causes the yeast to reproduce . Stir plates are more efficient because of the CO2 and 02 exchanges .

you may not get the Krausen on the starter but all the starters I made before making my stir plate the starter acted just like my carboys you can see the the yeast and trub moving up and down.Also if you shake it a little you should get the co2 to come out of solution and start to foam on the like this



starters made from the dregs of Saison Dupont and Hennipen

I just made the starter and pitched. The vial smelled funny, unlike any used before, but then again I haven't used WL Cream Ale before. Sort of smelled like dung.

I just got my first order from AHS and managed to pick it up minutes after the UPS delivery. But it is hot here and the yeast did seem warm. I'm also a bit concerned but I am hopefully it will be fine.

BillTheSlink said:

I just made the starter and pitched. The vial smelled funny, unlike any used before, but then again I haven't used WL Cream Ale before. Sort of smelled like dung.

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neither have I . I would say let it do its thing and taste the starter after its done. If I am a little apprehensive about the starter I just cold crash it then flame the neck decant a little and taste it.

I can't tell very well if anything is churning inside the flask. When I boiled my DME it got very dark for some reason and after diluting to 800ml is still dark, but I have cake on the bottom and it now smells like a normal swelled smack pack. I can't really tell yet if the bubbles I am getting, just a few, are from the natural shaking/swirling process or are CO2, but it has only been a few hours and the room is slightly chilly with the A/C. It's too early to tell for sure, but I love that smell!

i had the same experience with a wheat kit i bought form them. the yeast smelled horrible, it took 36-42 hours to start fermenting, went down to 1.006 or .007, and now tastes like crap in the bottle. I'm going to leave it until I need the bottles again

The exact same thing happened to me, except my smack pack (right off the UPS truck) was BLAZING HOT to the touch. It took nearly 36hrs for the yeast to get going visually, but all turned out fine.

I am going to call and ask for a refund. It just didn't make it. I have a vial of WL Kolsch I am thinking I can substitute, since you can sub the Wyeast Kolsch for WL Cream Ale on this recipe for the Little Kings Cream Ale clone. I am going to start a thread to ask about subbing it.