Did I kill my yeast?

[PainfullyHandsome]

I'm new and so far things haven't gone well.

In this latest batch I bought a liquid yeast. I ordered it with the cold pack. When I got it I put it in the fridge. That was 2 weeks ago. The yeast seemed to get hard in parts.

The instructions said to take it out of the fridge to warm up 24 hours before brewing. I did that and expected to brew on Friday. Well, I didn't get to it until Sunday.

Brewing went ok. I cooked with electric heat; which I hate because I lacked control.

I shook up the yeast good. It was still a little hard, but the shake up and added water liquified it a bit. The wurt was down to 80 quickly because I borrowed a wurt cooler. I stirred it well when I dropped in the yeast. And, now 24 hours later, there is no life. Technically, I know it may take up to 36 hours, but I don't have a good feeling about this right now and need to make emergency preparations.

Is it possible I ruined the yeast? The pot did boil up a bit sometimes. Did I burn off the sugar?

2 questions What might have gone wrong? More importantly, what do I do now?

 

[Brewcrew02]

Nah you'll be fine. You already have a homebrew ready to drink? Hopefully kegged or in the fridge? At least something decent from the store? Drink one of those. Then if ya want have another! All will be well.

 

[PainfullyHandsome]

Nah you'll be fine. You already have a homebrew ready to drink? Hopefully kegged or in the fridge? At least something decent from the store? Drink one of those. Then if ya want have another! All will be well.

My first batch sucked DD. I'm drinking Miller Lite and was hoping for something a bit more special than that.

Back to the first post. Any ideas?

 

[Tiffhoward]

Was the yeast in a vial or smack pack? Did you smack it? Some of the yeast may have died so it could take awhile to build up a high enough cell density to see any fermentation. Watch the fermentation lock on top of your carboy for any activity. 80F Should not kill the yeast, only give you some fruity esters. You need temps at like 120 to kill off yeast, but I would recommend not pitching your yeast above 75F, I prefer 70F. Also, It would help if you made a starter and grew up your yeast before you pitch, that way fermentation will hopefully be visible within 12-18 hours.

 

[PainfullyHandsome]

Was the yeast in a vial or smack pack? Did you smack it? Some of the yeast may have died so it could take awhile to build up a high enough cell density to see any fermentation. Watch the fermentation lock on top of your carboy for any activity. 80F Should not kill the yeast, only give you some fruity esters. You need temps at like 120 to kill off yeast, but I would recommend not pitching your yeast above 75F, I prefer 70F. Also, It would help if you made a starter and grew up your yeast before you pitch, that way fermentation will hopefully be visible within 12-18 hours.

It was a vial and, yes, I did smack it about a bit.

80f was the temperature before I added cool water. So, it was in the 70 range.

What should I do if I don't see any movement in the airlock in the next 8 hours?

 

[Gabba]

You killed your yeast, and now God is going to kill a kitten.

Shame on you

 

[Golddiggie]

Fermentation can take up to 72 hours to show any signs. So, give it 72 hours (a few more wouldn't hurt) and then see what's going on. Also, there's no guarantee that you'll get any airlock activity with your fermenter. If the seals are not 100%, the excess CO2 can escape in places other than the airlock.

I used some White Labs yeast for the first time the other day. I actually dumped them into my starter (first step of three) and got them going. If you're going to use liquid yeast with any regularity, with batches that have a reasonable OG (at/above ~1.040) then you should begin making starters. Starters will get the yeast cell count to the proper level to pitch into the batch. This is one of the things you can do to reduce the lag phase.

Personally, I've been using starters since my third batch. I've had some brews take about 24 hours to get going, but I've had others start showing activity in 3-4 hours.

BTW, there are a few other things you can do to help your yeast along. Some can be done cheap, or are cheap, while others will cost you a few bucks initially (but pay off in huge ways for the batches).

 

[PainfullyHandsome]

I used some White Labs yeast for the first time the other day. I actually dumped them into my starter (first step of three) and got them going. If you're going to use liquid yeast with any regularity, with batches that have a reasonable OG (at/above ~1.040) then you should begin making starters. Starters will get the yeast cell count to the proper level to pitch into the batch. This is one of the things you can do to reduce the lag phase.

Thank you so much for the response. I will give it more time.

Now, here comes my stupid question. What do you mean by dumping them into your starter?

 

[kh54s10]

Read up on making yeast starters. The amount of yeast cells in a vial or smack pack will ferment your beer but are not enough to do the job optimally.

When you underpitch the lag time (between pitching the yeast and when fermentation really gets started) will be longer.

Don't get worried until 48 hours and don't do anything until about 72 hours.

Also don't rely on bubbles in the airlock to think there is fermentation. It may not bubble at all and you can still have fermentation. Look for churning yeast in the wort, krausen on top, and a drop in gravity.

Have patience and you will probably have a good beer on your hands.

 

[Golddiggie]

Thank you so much for the response. I will give it more time.

Now, here comes my stupid question. What do you mean by dumping them into your starter?

I make starters for my yeast for each batch. The size, and number of steps, depends on what I'm brewing (plus the age of the yeast also plays a part). For the batch this yeast (WLP099) will be going into (a 16%+ barley wine) I needed to make a three step starter. I made the first step, at 1.6L in size, on Friday evening. I made the second step (after cold crashing for ~24 hours) Sunday evening (1.8L in size). I decant the spent starter between, in order to be sure to have the space needed. The third, and final, step will probably be made on Wednesday, or Thursday. I'm brewing the batch on Saturday, so as long as I can get it into the fridge Friday (sometime) it will be good to go by the time I need it. I had two vials (same production date) on hand, that I had thought to use for something else, but never did. So, I'm using them in this batch (before they get too old).

Using these three starters, for yeast that was made last December, will give me just over 600 billion yeast cells. I could only imagine the starter size I'd need to make if just a single starter step was used. The batch will have over 1700 billion yeast cells in it when it's finished too (a growth factor of about 1.73).

There's a good amount of info on making, and using, yeast starters on the boards here.

BTW, I know there's good yeast in there since the first step already finished, and the second one is about done. I expect to have somewhere around 300-330 billion yeast cells in the flask currently. :rockin:

 

[Ogri]

What do you mean by dumping them into your starter?

Here's a simplified version, as far as I understand the process.

A starter is used to help yeast propagate so that there are a viable number of yeast cells to convert all of the available, fermentable, sugars in the wort into alcohol and CO2. Usually there won't be enough viable yeast cells in a single pack of liquid yeast to do the job effectively if your wort is of an above average OG. A starter is a solution/wort with fermentable sugars, for example Dry Malt Extract mixed with boiled water, cooled then your yeast is added. The yeast start consuming sugars in your "starter wort" and begin multiplying.

What Golddiggie means by dumping them into his starter is........ adding the yeast to a wort, prior to brewing, for propagation and to get them ready for the task of tackling the brew..

 

[Golddiggie]

I also follow the 100g DME to 1L of water formula for making the starter wort. I have a high precision scale (only goes up to 11oz) that offers grams, as well as ounces, and a couple of other units of measure. I use grams when weighing DME for starters, ounces for hops and PBW weights. I then have a 1qt/1L measuring cup that I use for measuring the water amount that goes into the pot to make the starter. I don't use my 1 gallon (also has a L scale on it) measuring cup for this, but I could if I wished. I typically measure out a bit more water, to offset boil-off. IF I'm getting close to the top of the pot, for the pre-boil volume, I add a drop, or two, of fermcap to prevent boil-over.

BTW, I don't boil in my flasks, even though I could (gas stove here). I prefer to boil in a pot, chill in the sink (cold water/ice bath) and then pour into the flask to be used. I've seen too many posts from people getting hurt using flasks like that. Most of the time it's from boil-overs in the flasks. Besides, IMO, it's easier to use the handles on a pot than grab onto the flask, when it's hot.