Re-Pitched Yeast Cakes Doing Nothing...

I brewed an IPA last month and split it between 4 different yeasts, starting 12-20-09. Each beer was a 2.25 gal batch.

Today (1-18-10), I bewed an Amber and a Belgian Wit. I racked off/bottled each of the IPA's as I was brewing the two new beers today. I recapped the carboys with the yeast cakes and neither sat for more than two hours before having fresh wort dumped on top. Both were cooled to 70 deg and then pitched indoors at 64 deg.

The Amber was put on Wyeast 1187 Ringwood and the Wit was on Wyeast 1214 Belgian. This was approximately 4 and 2 hours ago, respectively, and there is still no activity.

I've re-pitched numerous times with great results - that's why I'm so puzzled this time. The only thing I can imagine is that after a month, too many of the yeasts have gone dormant or that the small IPA batches did not produce enough yeast. There definitely wasn't the nice 3/4" thick cake this time.

Any thoughts welcome...

Be patient! What was the OG and IBU of the IPA? How big (gallons) are the Amber and Wit?

Seriously dude, it can take 72 hours. Give it time. It'll work out.

I recently brewed a hefe and pitched a lot of washed 3068 yeast that was about a month old. I didn't see any activity until day 4.

schweaty said:

Be patient! What was the OG and IBU of the IPA? How big (gallons) are the Amber and Wit?

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The IPA was an 9 gal batch with an OG of 1.070 split into 4x 2.25 gal fermentations. The amber and wit are both 5.25 gal.

Grizzlybrew said:

neither sat for more than two hours before having fresh wort dumped on top. Both were cooled to 70 deg and then pitched indoors at 64 deg.

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You dumped the wort on the yeast cakes and THEN cooled them to 70? or was it the other way around?

electric and lordura,

I'm used to seeing a good krausen within 4 hours of repitching. Although, it's usually on a cake that's 2 weeks old. I'm a patient brewer for sure (tend not to freak out). I was just confused by the lack of activity. I'll just check it out tomorrow morning.

Yeast coated with hop resins and oils that just fermented a 1.070 beer isn't the healthiest yeast.

No doubt they are fermenting away by now.

david_42 said:

No doubt they are fermenting away by now.

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They are... I've been gone since very early yesterday morning and just got back this afternoon. They indeed are bubbling away and as for hop/trub covered yeast, there is a green blanket covering most of the krausen... I don't mind if the amber gets dryhopped by contact, but I should have followed my original plan and washed the yeast for the belgian wit. Oh well... it may not be style appropriate, but I'm sure it'll be good. With the IPA's being small bathces, there's not nearly as much hop debris as if it had been a full batch.