First time using Wyeast 1214

[John Coo's Brews]

Doing a Belgian dubbel for the first time (3-gallon, all grain + 0.5 lb Candi syrup, OG of 1.066). I got behind on having my starter ready for a Saturday brew session so moved the mash/boil session to Sunday. Yeast smack-pack was right at 2 months old (Feb 25 mfg date), so already the viability was estimated at ~58%. Plus, because of COVID, the shipment took 10 days from pack date to arrival date - and needless to say, the ice packet included was complete liquid, so I have to assume no refrigeration for some portion of the 10 day transit. Ended up with a slightly smaller starter than planned, but otherwise, the starter was active and nearly done by the time it was needed for the batch.

Still, when I pitched the starter at 73F, I was getting activity within 3 hours, so I thought all was well. The estimated fermentor temperature on Monday morning had climbed to 78F, while the ambient temp of the room was down to 71 - fermentation was nice and steady, but not "furious". I'm in NC, where temps are beginning to climb, and I was worried about the fermentation temp rising too much. I didn't do a true swamp chill set-up, but thoroughly wet a dark t-shirt and got a fan going for a bit. May have gotten too much cooling, because by Monday night (30 hours after pitching), the fermentation activity was way down. No krausen formed, and I'm pretty sure I still have fermentables, but minimal yeast action going, so I'm suspecting a stuck fermentation.

Due to the low flocculation of the 1214, I'm definitely not getting any clearing yet, so I'm wondering what to do at this point?
1) Let it continue at its slow pace until the weekend and see where the gravity is then?
2) Try to get things restarted with Krausening a second starter? If so, when (ASAP, or...)?
3) Something else?

 

[myndflyte]

Well you're doing a 3 gallon batch and made a starter so I would assume you had more than enough yeast. Without taking gravity readings, you have no idea if it's a stuck fermentation or actually done. So I'd start with a gravity reading before making any decisions.

 

[John Coo's Brews]

Well you're doing a 3 gallon batch and made a starter so I would assume you had more than enough yeast. Without taking gravity readings, you have no idea if it's a stuck fermentation or actually done. So I'd start with a gravity reading before making any decisions.

Thanks for the reply. Would you expect the suspended yeast to impact the gravity reading? And am I better off opening things up at this point, or waiting until the weekend to get the sample? In case it is stuck, I would think sooner rather than later, that way I could try krausening - but I've never had the situation come up before.

(I agree that under "normal" circumstances, I would have had enough yeast cells, but with the extra shipment time, I figure I may have been around 50% viability - maybe below. At about 1.4 liter starter volume, I could have been shy of 0.75 M cells/ml/deg-P)

 

[John Coo's Brews]

Well you're doing a 3 gallon batch and made a starter so I would assume you had more than enough yeast. Without taking gravity readings, you have no idea if it's a stuck fermentation or actually done. So I'd start with a gravity reading before making any decisions.

Decided to wait until the weekend to make a transfer to secondary and took a gravity at that time. Was very happy to find a gravity of ~1.013 (79% app att). And a preliminary taste had the right Belgian ale character. Realized it wasn't clearing because I had forgotten to add a whirl floc tablet - could that have also prevented a krausen from developing?

So now I just need to work out how and when (or maybe if) to clear the beer with gelatin.

 

[Stormcrow]

Glad to hear it turned out. Yeast is a funny critter sometimes. I never use wirlfloc and usually have a good krausen, so I doubt there's any correlation there. The first brew I ever did seemed like a weak fermentation without any krausen to speak of. Turned out fine. Id say you can fine it anytime now if you're convinced it's done. I know there's a lot of forums on the site where folks talk about exactly how to do that. I haven't tried it yet myself, but would like to on my next brew.

 

[John Coo's Brews]

Glad to hear it turned out. Yeast is a funny critter sometimes. I never use wirlfloc and usually have a good krausen, so I doubt there's any correlation there. The first brew I ever did seemed like a weak fermentation without any krausen to speak of. Turned out fine. Id say you can fine it anytime now if you're convinced it's done. I know there's a lot of forums on the site where folks talk about exactly how to do that. I haven't tried it yet myself, but would like to on my next brew.

I brewed the "sister batch" to the Belgian dubbed yesterday. Identical recipe and yeast. Did a two-step infusion mash, whereas in the first batch, I did a single infusion - so my total mash time was a little longer, and I got a bit more OG out of the recipe. The only other change was the whirlfloc (remembered it this time!). Got a great fermentation going as we speak, and a nice layer of krausen this time.

I'm sure you are correct that the whirlfloc isn't the difference, but for whatever reason this one looks "normal" whereas the other one just didn't (even though it appears to have turned out OK). Of course, although the yeast was the same (Wyeast 1214), the starters were different - the first was pitched at full volume (1.5 liters) because I needed the yeast and didn't have time to let it settle in order to decant. The other starter was made up at the same time but because I had an extra week, I could put it in the fridge and decant off the week beer.

One of these days I'll invest in something bigger than a 5-gallon brew pot so that I can get back to 5-gallon batches.

 

[Stormcrow]

I brewed the "sister batch" to the Belgian dubbed yesterday. Identical recipe and yeast. Did a two-step infusion mash, whereas in the first batch, I did a single infusion - so my total mash time was a little longer, and I got a bit more OG out of the recipe. The only other change was the whirlfloc (remembered it this time!). Got a great fermentation going as we speak, and a nice layer of krausen this time.

I'm sure you are correct that the whirlfloc isn't the difference, but for whatever reason this one looks "normal" whereas the other one just didn't (even though it appears to have turned out OK). Of course, although the yeast was the same (Wyeast 1214), the starters were different - the first was pitched at full volume (1.5 liters) because I needed the yeast and didn't have time to let it settle in order to decant. The other starter was made up at the same time but because I had an extra week, I could put it in the fridge and decant off the week beer.

One of these days I'll invest in something bigger than a 5-gallon brew pot so that I can get back to 5-gallon batches.

I hear that! I do three gallons as well. Enough for me, but I need to step it up for my friends' sake. They're circling like vultures.