Help! WLP677 Starter Issue

[magicaces84]

Hey all, I've tried searching for a solution to the question...and while several people have experienced something similar, nobody has all the pieces that make up my situation so wanted to start a new thread asking for help.

I created a starter for WLP677 using DME at 1/2 cup DME per 1200mL (I didn't check gravity...hindsight, should have done this by weight). Total volume is 2000mL

*Brought the starter to 110F after 12 minute boil
*Added the Vial of Lacto
*Holding temps between 95F and 105F using a Dash Yogurt Maker
*No O2 aeration at first

After 3 days of ZERO activity, I can smell what is a slight apple juice aroma, but the taste and smell have no sourness at all. There is no bubbling of any kind and it don't think there is ANYTHING going on with it.

I have since:
*Dropped temps to room temp and then brought back up to see if it takes off
*Gently 'Shaken' the mixture to see if it takes off
*Cried over the fact that it isn't doing anything (not really)

I am now at day 5 and still nothing...smell is just a slight apple-like aromoa...no real tangy quality.

I'm curious if anyone has seen this and still had a successful starter or knows what I should do next. Should I take a gravity reading now to see if there has been any sign of movement (even though I don't have an initial reading, I'd imagine I'd know if there was something going on based on a reading).

Should I toss and start over? Use Apple Juice? Or is there a chance this is either working and I just don't realize it or that it is salvageable by adding another vial or some apple juice to it (don't want the gravity to get too high, though).

Hoping to brew this weekend, so definitely will need to start over ASAP if that is the route.

Thoughts?

 

[dcHokie]

I created a starter for WLP677 using DME at 1/2 cup DME per 1200mL (I didn't check gravity...hindsight, should have done this by weight). Total volume is 2000mL

Looks like you may have just undershot the DME a bit. Rough estimate, but 1/2 cup DME is probably around ~80 grams, in a 2L starter that would only give you a gravity of about 1.015.

 

[magicaces84]

Looks like you may have just undershot the DME a bit. Rough estimate, but 1/2 cup DME is probably around ~80 grams, in a 2L starter that would only give you a gravity of about 1.015.

Interesting...so 1/2 cup per 1200 mL equates to 1.015?

I ended up using a total of 5/6 cup for 2000mL using that scale up. Surprised so low as it is what I use for all my batches.

Good to know, I can boost my ratio if needed.

Is this starter salvageable? Add more boiled/reduced temp DME and keep going? Or start new?

 

[MattHollingsworth]

Chill, decant, measure SG and taste it. See if you have slurry in the bottom when you decant. Step the starter up with a proper 1.040 or so.

I made a starter with 677 recently. Went fine. But it was not sour. Just a touch tangy and fruity. Tasted mostly like a yeast starter, not weird or sour. I did not use super hot temps, though. I had it around 78-82 or something. I stepped it up in three steps total. Cell count on that Lacto is pretty low. I went with something like 400 ml, then added another 600 ml straight into the flask on top of the old starter, then added another 1L. Two or three days for each step. Chilled for a couple of days, decanted and pitched around 84 F. I saw normal activity like with any yeast.

Fermenting the main beer now. Been about 9 days. Fermented like crazy. Not very sour at all. Pitched Brett C and a Saison yeast after 2 days with just Lacto. Beer tastes good at the moment but not really sour. I will let it sit a few months, though, and see what develops.