WLP 001 Close to expiration - fermentation not starting

Greetings to the Group !!!

I have made an amber ale for a competition which is coming up in January. The hot side of the process went really well.

The characteristics of my wort are as follows:
OG: 1.059
Mashed @ 67c
Aerated with pure oxygen for 100 seconds

I wanted to use WLP 001 and my LHBS only had stock expiring on 29 Nov 2016. I bought it and build a 2L starter (this was on 28 Nov 2016) for which I did my calculations here:

http://www.brewersfriend.com/yeast-pitch-rate-and-starter-calculator/


I assumed minimal viability (something like 10%) which should have brought me to 300 billion cells with a 2L 1.038 starter.

The starter was left on the stir plate for 48 hours and then cold crushed for another 60 hours. I then decanted. The starter was quite cloudy whilst on the stir plate and a reasonable pack appeared on the bottom when it was cold crushed.

The yeast was pitched in the wort and left to rise from 16C to 19C in my fermentation chamber.

24 hours later and there no activity whatsoever (no yeast on the top, no bubbling, the wort is clear).

I have two questions:

What is my best bet for getting good beer (mind you the intention it to take this been to a competition and time does not allow for another batch). Should I pitch some US05 I have in stock (1.5 pack rehydrated per the instructions). Should I re introduce pure oxygen before repitching??

Why did this happen? Was the yeast unviable to start with ??? I did notice that the resulting pack in the flask was not very big and it took longer to floc.

Sounds like everything is fine. You had slurry at the bottom of your flask, so you definitely had new healthy growth, and you definitely gave the yeast what it needs for a healthy ferment.

24 hours is nothing. Even you can't see activity, they're doing their thing. I bet some time in the next 12-24 hours, that sucker is covered in healthy krausen and bubbling like crazy.

Cheers JonM

Its now hour 31 and there is still no krauzen or any other type of activity.
I took a gravity reading and if my measurements are correct the gravity is down to 1.057 (OG 1.059).

I will leave the sample to ferment in the house (22c). I guess if there is viable yeast it should get going faster than the wort (19c). Should I put an airlock? My thinking is that If I don't put an airlock then my experiment may be irrelevant (as they wild yeasts may take over and get things going). Thoughts?

Just leave the yeast alone and let them work in peace. They know what they're doing.

suitbrewing said:

Cheers JonM

Its now hour 31 and there is still no krauzen or any other type of activity.
I took a gravity reading and if my measurements are correct the gravity is down to 1.057 (OG 1.059).

I will leave the sample to ferment in the house (22c). I guess if there is viable yeast it should get going faster than the wort (19c). Should I put an airlock? My thinking is that If I don't put an airlock then my experiment may be irrelevant (as they wild yeasts may take over and get things going). Thoughts?

Click to expand...

A piece of foil or saran wrap loosely fastened to the top is an airlock. It will allow CO2 to escape without allowing wild yeast or bacteria in.

Cheers for the above.

I checked the gravity in the sample when I was back home for lunch and there was no reduction to gravity. This was kept in the house @ 22c.

I also checked the fermentor and there were no signs of fermentation (Krauzen, bubbling, or any other movement in the wort).

I will take a new sample when I am back home tonight (54 hours from pitching the yeast). I guess if I have no gravity drop I will proceed to pitch dry US-05. Any thoughts????


I am wondering whether the issues were caused by the heating in the fermentation chamber. I guess my initial statement (left to rise from 16 to 19) is not completely accurate. After I pitched the yeast I put the fermentor in my fermentation chamber where a 200w ceramic bulb supplies heat at the top of the fermentor. Would the heat at the top kill the yeast?

I took a reading last night and the gravity was exactly the same so I decided to pitch some rehydrated US05. I also tried to reintroduce pure oxygen but I was only able to get 20 seconds from my disposable oxygen bottle.

There were visible signs of fermentation 12-18 hours later. The amber ale is now bubling happily in the fermentation chamber.

Since this is competition beer I want to know how the stuck/failed fermentation with the wlp001 will affect the finished beer flavour, say compared with a beer that was pitched with the US05 from the start???

If you sanitized everything really well you should have no worries.

I am still not having a lot of luck with this batch.

I took a sample 5 days after re pitching with US05. Gravity was down to 1.013 (which is good) but the sample had a strange taste to it! Its pretty hard to describe but I would say that its rubbery or medicin like!

My sample did have some trub and yeast in it so I am not sure if it amplified the taste issue.

I guess the taste could go away as the yeast cleans up the beer but who knows!

The plan is to take another reading tomorrow and if gravity is stable to dry hop for a week.

At the end of the dry hop I will raise the temp by 2 degrees (to 21c) as a diacetyl rest. I will then cold crush.

Any ideas why I got this funny taste. I dont think its anything to do with the hot side as everything was under control. I am suspecting that the uneven application of heat (ceramic bulb emitting at the top of the fermentor) could have messed things up (killed the wlp01 and caused then funny flavours)! Any thoughts???