Slow fermentation wlp002

I ordered some yeast from the states to be delivered here in Japan and it was delayed in customs for a while and when it arrived the wlp002 (english ale) had become clumpy and didn't look in great condition.

I needed to brew but had guests over so had little time, so I made a starter for a day or so and pitched the yeast on Sunday to a 1.053 ESB. There has been no airlock action (3 days) and when I looked inside the fermenter there is a very thin layer of kreusen. I took a gravity measurement and it's 1.040 so it's fermenting, but very slowly.

Is this likely to ferment out or should I pitch some more yeast?

This is my first time with wlp002 and was hoping to wash and reuse. The only other yeast I have is us-05


Regards

Personally, I would leave it be and hope for the best. Make sure your temp is staying solid in the 68-70 range and that your ambient temp doesn't drop. When it finishes, take a gravity reading and then you can decide whether to add healthy yeast if the fg is too high. Try not to mess with it until it seems like activity has ceased.

Addition: the no airlock action is most likely from a leak in the seal.

I would have probably done a starter for a couple of days versus just one. If they held it for a long period of time I doubt they kept it cold as it is suppose to be kept. I've only used wlp002 once but I actually had a fairly average (3-5) fermentation using it.

You could try rousing the yeast up a little, take a sanitized spoon or whatever, and give your wort a good couple stirs to essentially "wake up" the yeast. If you've got some yeast nutrient taking a pinch or two of that into a cup of boiling water then cooling down would be a good extra measure.

Take another reading after 3 days or so and see if that did anything, if it didn't, pitch the US-05.

For next time, when working with yeast in poor health, sterol and other nutrients have been depleted. For the yeast to rebuild these they need lots of oxygen. A starter several days on a stir pate will help. The yeast will be much healthier when pitched, but this will leave you with an unknown cell count. You can estimate cell count by volume. 1 billion per ml is a good ball park number. Or count the cells with a microscope like this:

http://woodlandbrew.blogspot.com/2012/11/counting-yeast-cells-to-asses-viability.html

002 Can be slow sometimes. Especially since it had quite a ride before you received it. One thing to remember, 002 doesn't look like any other yeast. It is always 'clumpy'. Neat to watch because it looks like a snow globe when fermenting. It sounds like the brew got a late start from the stressed yeast. But give it some time. After a couple of weeks, give it a check.

I had this exact same experience two days ago. I brewed a 1.074 IPA and I didn't have time to make a starter because I was busy with the holidays and just wanted to slam out a brew.

I pulled the vile and couldn't figure out why it was so chunky looking. I direct pitched it from the vile to my fermenter and I had zero activity for about a day. Then it picked up last night and is fermenting nicely right now. Give it time I guess.

My experiences with 002 have been the opposite, explosive fermentation. That's with a big enough starter though.

Hallelujah we have movement! Had me worried for a minutes there. The wonder and durability of yeast! Time for a pliny clone to celebrate!

Hammy71 said:

One thing to remember, 002 doesn't look like any other yeast. It is always 'clumpy'.

Click to expand...

Came here to say this. It's just how it is. Highly flocculant yeasts do that.