Underpitched??

Thanks fellers for reading and responding....

Pumpkin Spice Ale
Extract Recipe
Canned pumpkin in last 30 min. (I know, a trial at best)
Everything cleaned and sanitized really well
Yeast starter with 1 pkg. US-05 - good reaction
1 lb. Honey at flameout

OG - 1.066 (higher than I planned)

Really slow fermentation....pitched about 21 hrs ago. Foam is at the top, but not the aggressive reaction I was expecting with all the fermentables in there (foam at this point is less than a 1/2" thick. I'm thinking I underpitched which leads me to my question.

Is it safe, advisable to re-hydrate another pack of US-05 and pitch now? Unadviseable?

Aroma is magnificent, don't want to kill it if I don't have to or introduce any terrrrrrible flavors...

Thanks in advance!

FYI, I oxygenated my wort for 90 sec's with pure O2 as well.

that is more than enough yeast

Yes it's enough. You didn't actually make a yeast starter with a dry yeast did you? I assume you just hydrated it?

Dry yeast is like doing a starter.

Actually I did do a starter with dry....I'm new to the whole starter thing, so I was winging it. Local brew supplier said since I did, it was ok, but not preferred. They said to wait another 24 hrs and see if SG had dropped. Said at that point, if needed, I could re-hydrate another pack and pitch without too much trouble....you guys agree? The aroma is GREAT, I don't want to lose the batch....

doing a yeast starter with dry is kind of silly if you aren't doing a high gravity brew, but it isn't going to hurt the beer. i don't agree with your LHBS. i see no reason at all to add more yeast. you said you've got foam after less than 24 hours...high krausen won't happen for another 24 or so depending on the temperature.

in my opinion, the best thing you can do is just observe the activity and take occasional measurements and tastes. being sure to sanitize everything every step of the way. doing this, you learn about how your yeast works, how it tastes at different stages, and what exactly it is that you are doing.

Ah... Ya only do a starter with liquid yeast. And really only if you're 5 gallon batch has a gravity higher than ~ 1.050

You'll be fine... Unless you killed the yeast by adding them to an overly hot wort for the starter. Otherwise I wouldn't sweat it. But I'm sure you're fine. It's taken 4 days for me to see signs of fermentation before and sometimes it's almost like nothing happened. But I've always ended up with beer.

I ferment under pressure now in kegs. I just did 10 gallons of a milk stout where I had split the wort into two 1/4 kegs for fermenting. One built up little pressure compared to the other. I actually got a little concern, but I checked gravity and sampled last night. They're both dead on the final gravity and taste fantastic.

05 can be a slow starter, especially at low temps. What temp is it at? My last one with 05 at 64F didn't show any signs for over 24 hours, but that was added dry.. Not sure what a starter would do. On the other hand, 04 seems to always start super quick for me, sometimes under 6 hours.

Give it time, you didn't under pitch imo.

I've made the error of doing a starter with dry yeast myself......

But anyway, I just rehydrate it for 15 minutes in cooled water that was boiled, then pitch.

I did my pumpkin Ale last week, started fermenting overnight, My SG was 1.044

Thanks very much!! I'm more comfortable now. I was just expecting a volcano like reaction since I did a starter....which I didn't investigate enough, or I wouldn't have used dry. Anyway, it appears to be fermenting albeit slowly. FYI the temp was 70 deg. when pitched. Wort looks good, with foam on top, just not what I was expecting....

Cheers!!

HawgDaddy said:

Thanks very much!! I'm more comfortable now. I was just expecting a volcano like reaction since I did a starter....which I didn't investigate enough, or I wouldn't have used dry. Anyway, it appears to be fermenting albeit slowly. FYI the temp was 70 deg. when pitched. Wort looks good, with foam on top, just not what I was expecting....

Cheers!!

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Why wouldn't you use dry? Us-05 and 04 are great yeast strains. Plus it's easier to use than dealing with starters. Keep in mind that dry yeast is in a suspended state. Dry yeast packets have more viable yeast than the liquid, so it's not like liquid is better. You just have more options with liquid.

But ya I under pitched a graff with some 1187 (ring wood) from a smack pack. It was older yeast too. It didn't swell up at all and hardly showed signs of fermentation, but the graff was fantastic. I got a lot of compliments on it.

Then I made another batch with the same yeast that I harvested from that batch. I made a starter and pitched it. It took off like a volcano. It started bubbling in under 3 hours. I'll be racking that to keg today. I used a glass 6.5 carboy for this one, so it would fit in my fermentation chamber. It was the first time I had blowoff. It was only about a table spoon full in the hose, but still it was a hell of a krausen.

I'm excited to try this next batch to see if it's different and how.

I'm assuming there's nothing to worry about....not much in the bubble department (as in occassional)(I know, I'm giving it more time) but to look at the wort....I see particulate solids that look as if they are swimming, or the wort is slow boiling. Assuming this is the yeast causing CO2 to make it's way to the top, and causing the solids (trub) to be disturbed....foam on top is increasing in size....

HawgDaddy said:

I'm assuming there's nothing to worry about....not much in the bubble department (as in occassional)(I know, I'm giving it more time) but to look at the wort....I see particulate solids that look as if they are swimming, or the wort is slow boiling. Assuming this is the yeast causing CO2 to make it's way to the top, and causing the solids (trub) to be disturbed....foam on top is increasing in size....

Click to expand...

You're in good shape