NChomebrewer
Member
I need a little advice on yeast. This is my fourth time brewing. On Saturday I brewed a Flat Tire ingrediant kit from Midwest Brewing using Wyeast Belgian Ale liquid yeast. I hit the smack pack and gave the pack a good 5-6 hours to swell. The only problem is it never did. I felt around the pack to make sure I had broken the nutrient packet. And I did. I shook the pack a few times to get everything mixed but it never expanded. The kit and yeast were bought in mid December. The yeast has been in the refrigerator since that time. So while it wasnt used right away it is not really old yeast. I pitched it anyway thinking maybe it would still work. Although I figured it probably would not so I ordered an emergency pack of yeast from a local home brew store later Saturday night.
Sunday there was no activity in the fermenter. Monday during the day still no activity in the fermenter. Late last night I noticed a little bit of foam gathering on top of the wort. Im using a Better Bottle. This morning I checked and there is a thin layer of krausen and the airlock is bubbling once about every 10-11 seconds. So it took over 48 hours for things to start going in the fermenter.
My emergency pack of yeast will arrive today. When I go home for lunch today I am going to check to see if the airlock is still bubbling and if it has gotten more active. I guess the yeast is working but it is slow. I know yeast works on its own schedule but the fact that the smack pack never swelled is what concerns me.
Is the original yeast that I pitched on Saturday healthy enough to get the job done?
Should I still go ahead and pitch the second pack of yeast or is the original finally doing the job?
If I do pitch the second pack when should this be done? Should I wait until the little bit of krausen has settled?
Thanks in advance for the replies.
Sunday there was no activity in the fermenter. Monday during the day still no activity in the fermenter. Late last night I noticed a little bit of foam gathering on top of the wort. Im using a Better Bottle. This morning I checked and there is a thin layer of krausen and the airlock is bubbling once about every 10-11 seconds. So it took over 48 hours for things to start going in the fermenter.
My emergency pack of yeast will arrive today. When I go home for lunch today I am going to check to see if the airlock is still bubbling and if it has gotten more active. I guess the yeast is working but it is slow. I know yeast works on its own schedule but the fact that the smack pack never swelled is what concerns me.
Is the original yeast that I pitched on Saturday healthy enough to get the job done?
Should I still go ahead and pitch the second pack of yeast or is the original finally doing the job?
If I do pitch the second pack when should this be done? Should I wait until the little bit of krausen has settled?
Thanks in advance for the replies.