Slower than expected fermentation. Should I pitch another tube

Sorry for the double post, I realized I posted this as a reply in another section of the site..

OK so I brewed a batch of Black IPA OG 1.075 (actual around 1.071) and did a yeast starter for one yeast tube, using WL California V liquid yeast, but being a noob I messed up a bit. I did start the yeast the night before breweing, giving the yeast a total of 15 hours to multiply, what I did not do was put my yeast starter back in the fridge to settle all the yeast at the bottom before i decant the wort from the yeast. There was still a cake of yeast at the bottom and I made sure not to disrupt or pour out. Once the boil was done I pitched the yeast, things seem to be moving a bit slower than when using dry yeast (Nottingham). last time I brewed a batch, I had a thick layer of foam in the carboy, this time the foam is raising slowly. I know its hard to determin how much of the yeast I possibly poured down the drain, etc. etc., but how bad did I mess up? Should I pitch the second tube tonight (without a starter) ?

So you pitched the yeast cake? How thick (both inches & consistancy) was it, and what type of container i.e.: flask, milk jug etc.?

-d

OK so yes I pitched the yeast cake it was about a 1/4-1/2 of an inch, I also picthed about 3 inches of the wort/yeast mix. I used a half gallon glass carboy as my starting vessel. Like the yeast did move from side to side when I held the bottle one one side long enough, probaly not as viscus as yeast in a tube right out the fridge.,

So a quarter of an inch of medium slurry in a, say 6" diameter container? Plus 3" of wort on top of that? I would not worry one bit, especially since your source was a vial @ >90% viability. I'm certainly no expert, but I have only ever used liquid yeast & wash & reuse regularly.

There really is no "slow" or "fast" fermentation (unless you're temps are high and the yeast are going gangbusters) there just is fermentation. If you have krausen you have fermentation, regardless of the fact that it took 3 hours to form to it's largest size or 30....It really doesn't matter one bit.

The amount of krausen can vary for whatever reason, it can come quick and depart quickly or it can linger long after fermentation is complete, and it all be normal.

There is nothing "typical" in brewing...every fermentation is different, and should not be used to compare one with another...you can't do that.

No two fermentations are ever exactly the same.

When we are dealing with living creatures, there is a wild card factor in play..Just like with other animals, including humans...No two behave the same.

You can split a batch in half put them in 2 identical carboys, and pitch equal amounts of yeast from the same starter...and have them act completely differently...for some reason on a subatomic level...think about it...yeasties are small...1 degree difference in temp to us, could be a 50 degree difference to them...one fermenter can be a couple degrees warmer because it's closer to a vent all the way across the room and the yeasties take off...

Someone, Grinder I think posted a pic once of 2 carboys touching each other, and one one of the carboys the krausen had formed only on the side that touched the other carboy...probably reacting to the heat of the first fermentation....but it was like symbiotic or something...

With living micro-organisms there is always a wildcard factor in play...and yet the yeast rarely lets us down. So it is best just to rdwhahb and trust that they know to what they are doing. It sounds like you are brewing by a calendar, or instructions and not by what your beer is really doing, the problem is that yeast don't know how to read so they seldom follow their scripts. They dance to their own tune and its seldom 4 x 4 Time.

Don't assume the worst with the yeast, realize that they've been making beer since long before our great great great grandfather copped his first buzz from a 40 of mickey's out back of the highschool, so they are the experts.

Yeasts are like teenagers, swmbos, and humans in general, they have their own individual way of doing things.

And worrying because it's not happening how fast or slow you think it should be is really not worth the energy.

It may not be what you expected it to be but that doesn't mean anything's wrong.

Man solid reply, thanks for the kick in the pants. I guess you can get obsessed with looking at foam in a glass bottle and an airlock bubbling. Well I'll spend my time cleaning my equipment and planning for a keg setup instead of worrying..

HoppingRazor said:

Man solid reply, thanks for the kick in the pants. I guess you can get obsessed with looking at foam in a glass bottle and an airlock bubbling. Well I'll spend my time cleaning my equipment and planning for a keg setup instead of worrying..

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Yeah, I find that new brewers tend to think of their beers as some sort of mutant child that will die if they look at it funny, and at the same time tend to want to futz with it if it seems to be acting differently than whatever they think it should be doing.

When in reality our beer is really more resilient than that. I've collected these stories so new brewers will realize that our beer really does tend to turn out ok 99.95% of the time. And usually the less we mess with it, the better it turns out.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/wh...where-your-beer-still-turned-out-great-96780/

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/ne...virtue-time-heals-all-things-even-beer-73254/

Exactly right....

If you can't stop yourself from fooling around with it and really want to know how it is progressing -- use your hydrometer and taste samples..... That is the only good way you have to track the rate of sugar consumption......

Some yeasts foam up like crazy, and some don't.... Some run really fast and others are more slow and steady.... Does that mean the slower, steadier ones aren't as good? Nope..... Personally, I like them better -- no beer gysers.... and they don't blow out all the flavors....

Thanks