OG too high please help!

[Saggynate]

Hello everybody,

So last night I brewed an Amber Ale and finished with an OG of 1.062. After cooling the wort down to 71 degrees I pitched one packet of White Laps 007. That was 11 hours ago and I have seen zero activity in the carboy. The back of the packet said it was best used on Ales with an Og of 1.050 and below but I didn't have anything else to use. So, I know I underpitched the yeast and i've introduced it into a stressful environment but is there anything I can do to help it out? Would pitching a second packet be advisable or should I just cross my fingers and hope for the best? Please help.

 

[Morrey]

Hello everybody,

So last night I brewed an Amber Ale and finished with an OG of 1.062. After cooling the wort down to 71 degrees I pitched one packet of White Laps 007. That was 11 hours ago and I have seen zero activity in the carboy. The back of the packet said it was best used on Ales with an Og of 1.050 and below but I didn't have anything else to use. So, I know I underpitched the yeast and i've introduced it into a stressful environment but is there anything I can do to help it out? Would pitching a second packet be advisable or should I just cross my fingers and hope for the best? Please help.

Many folks build a starter for liquid yeasts although its not a requirement. The fresher the yeast the better if doing a direct pitch as you did. Even when building a starter, I often see time lags that range up to 24 hours before you see some sort of airlock activity.

1.062 is within the range of "normal" gravity beers, and 007 should be just fine in that beer. If you were into big beers like 1.080 or more...then you should look for other yeast options.

I'd let it ride another 12 -18 hours and I expect you'll see some activity if all else is in proper order.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

I you want to pitch another pack its fine you wont be overpitching. Most don't pitch 2 packs just for money reasons but if it makes you feel better go for it.

11 hours is not long. I start worrying after 48 hours...you have a ways to go. I think you'll be fine....patience young grasshopper

 

[Rob2010SS]

You'll be fine. It'll just be a bit slower to start. As @JONNYROTTEN said, after 48 hours, even 72 hours, then you may have to do something if you don't see activity. I didn't start doing starters until abotu 3 batches ago and I had a couple at 1.065 that did just fine. They were slow starters, but did fine.

 

[Saggynate]

I'll leave it be then. Plus I doubt my homebrew store will be open today. i'll post an update in a day or two or when I see some activity.

Thanks for the help everybody.

 

[kh54s10]

A pack of White Labs yeast used to contain about 100 billion cells when they were in the vials. With the new packs, White Labs says there are more but are not specific on how much.

Even at 100 billion cells, or less for older packs, the beer will ferment. Pitching the right amount gives your beer the best chance of being great.

I always make starters with liquid yeast (again best practice). Pitching too little may affect the flavor. How much change is dependent on how much of an underpitch. IMO at 1.062 your underpitch is unlikely to have too much of an adverse affect.

 

[Renegade Brewer]

According to Chris White and the microbiologists at wyeast, each vial or small pack is designed to inoculate a direct pitch at 1.040 or below at 5 gallons. Factors such as how your yeast has been treated and the manufacture date also affect this rate. We always overnight our yeast orders directly from the lab and have them shipped on ice. They spend their entire life in the fridge in the shop at 40* until they are adopted. At 5 months after mfg date we pull the yeast packs and won’t sell them; unfortunately not all shops are so picky about their yeast handling.

I tell all of my customers anything over 1.050 at 5 gallons really needs a starter. I recommend at least a 2000ml starter 48 hours prior to pitching. The exception is dry yeast. Dry yeast is cheap enough that buying 2 or three packs is still reasonable.

Along with a healthy pitch rate, O2 into solution is equally as important. Our goal is 8 liters of pure O2 in solution.

With proper pitch and O2, you should see activity within 4-6 hours. 12 hours of inactivity is absolutely unacceptable for us.

Check www.mrmalty.com to ensure you are hitting your pitch rate.

Quite a few of our house kits are OG of 1.050 or above and each of those kits come with at least two packs of dry yeast or the option for an additional pack of liquid yeast as well as directions to complete a starter.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

On a side note I called WL looking for some yeast my LHBS didn't have. They told it would be like $25 just for shipping or something completely out of line. I asked how they came up with that number and the guy told me "it is what it is". They go out of there way NOT to sell to homeowners...put a bad taste in my mouth.

I also had an issue with a yeast never taking off. I called to ask about the yeast as I never used that strain before. They said they would send me a new pack. It never showed up...I called a week later they said they would send it right out...it never showed up...again. I'll use any other yeast but theirs if I have the choice

 

[swampbrewcrew]

On a side note I called WL looking for some yeast my LHBS didn't have. They told it would be like $25 just for shipping or something completely out of line. I asked how they came up with that number and the guy told me "it is what it is". They go out of there way NOT to sell to homeowners...put a bad taste in my mouth.

Rush shipping, and packed on ice? $25 doesn't sound out of line there. It's $30 to overnight an envelope.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

Rush shipping, and packed on ice? $25 doesn't sound out of line there. It's $30 to overnight an envelope.

I guess. Every other on line store was around $8 and everybody does it without issue it seems. Not sure why WL is triple that. Not to mention when your a business and do bulk shipping you get better rates than the average person sending an envelope. My guess is they're making a sh*t load of money on shipping and stiffin the one buyin the yeast...me

 

[Renegade Brewer]

25.00 is absolutely correct and acceptable. We order normally 200 vials every 3 weeks and our brewery down the road will order 25 liters every two weeks.

We also pride ourselves on carrying the same yeast stock you can find online along with over 100 varieties of grain and 100 hop varieties. Luckily we are in Central CA where customers expect to walk into a well stocked homebrew shop which employs BJCP certified judges, cicerones, and certified brewers. Our customers want to come in, sample a flight of beers, purchase the ones they like while their recipe is being prepared, and have access to many interactive classes. They also expect fresh and plentiful ingredients. It’s unacceptable for a local shop to claim to be out of a product or say they don’t carry it.

With that being said, white labs is a wholesale laboratory which its main purpose is supplying the professional brewing community. They expect customers to rely on retailers to obtain their product. You’d find much the same attitude if you tried to purchase from BSG, LD, or County Malt if you’re simply an end user and don’t have an EIN. These companies literally don’t have time to deal with selling to the public.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

. These companies literally don’t have time to deal with selling to the public.

That's fine and ifs that's the case simply say we don't sell to the public and I'll ask for names of local venders and by it there. But to say they'll sell it to me and ream we while their at it is just bad business. And Over $20 to ship a single pack of yeast AND they're a yeast distributer that ships the same thing all day long is stickin it where it hurts when every vendor online can ship THERE product for a third of the price....not looking for an argument but its my opinion and I'm stickin to it.

And it sounds you run a great homebrew shop and that's awesome but totally unrelated to the topic. Getting a flight of beer served by a judge has nothing to do with shipping charges

 

[Renegade Brewer]

Things to consider: white labs is in San Diego, CA where we were just hit with a 12% gas tax increase. All CA companies have to drastically increase shipping charges. White Labs does not profit one bit from the shipping charge. That is literally the price they are charged by the carrier to get it from their facility in SD to you within 24 hours while guaranteeing it will be viable and cold.

My point was we pay the same in shipping costs and we are 8 hours north of the white labs facility. It becomes worth the shipping cost when you order 200 units. They do not readily sell single units to end users, however they are happy to do so when folks are willing to compensate them for shipping costs. I guarantee if you were to walk into the facility and purchase a vial direct from white labs you’d be charged retail 7.99. How much would it cost you to get to the facility?

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

Things to consider: white labs is in San Diego, CA where we were just hit with a 12% gas tax increase. All CA companies have to drastically increase shipping charges. White Labs does not profit one bit from the shipping charge. That is literally the price they are charged by the carrier to get it from their facility in SD to you within 24 hours while guaranteeing it will be viable and cold.

My point was we pay the same in shipping costs and we are 8 hours north of the white labs facility. It becomes worth the shipping cost when you order 200 units. They do not readily sell single units to end users, however they are happy to do so when folks are willing to compensate them for shipping costs. I guarantee if you were to walk into the facility and purchase a vial direct from white labs you’d be charged retail 7.99. How much would it cost you to get to the facility?

In this day and age shipping is everything. Midwest just started offering FREE shipping on everything. Including White Labs. They're literally shipping the exact same product for free,They say the prices went up but its still the same or less than my LHBS...Amazon literally ships everything for free and is at my doorstep in 2 days. How can these companys do it and WL ( a mass shipping company) cant figure out a way...unless they just don't care. which is what I said, if they don't want to sell to the public don't, just don't say we will and rape me while there at it

 

[Renegade Brewer]

I doubt the products you are ordering from amazon is alive and extremely perishable requiring specific rush delivery on ice.

As for Midwest, I try my best to get people to support their local homebrew shops and not give their money to inbev, but that’s just me. Remember if we don’t support our local business they will no longer be around.

But, again it goes to my point that white labs could care less about selling directly to the consumer. They are not a retail business. They make their money from commercial breweries and a small percentage from homebrew shops. If it weren’t for craft breweries white labs would not exist, so yes, you’re right, they would prefer not to be bothered to sell to you. They will but it’s not their preferred business model.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

I doubt the products you are ordering from amazon is alive and extremely perishable requiring specific rush delivery on ice.

.

I bought a Goldfish from Amazon...just kidding...gotta keep it light

 

[Renegade Brewer]

I honestly would not be surprised. I actually bought 1000 live worms for our beardy from Amazon, but live was quite relative. I think I may have had half that were still alive when they arrived. I learned a valuable lesson to buy live things locally.

Back to the original issue; why don’t you ask your local shop to order and carry the strain you want? Any homebrew shop worth it’s salt will have no problem adding a strain you use to their next order, especially if they are already a white labs supplier. I know quite a few shops will not carry either wyeast or white labs because geographically it’s too much of a burden to order it. In that case you can almost always find the same strain in one or the other be it white labs or wyeast. We are fortunate enough to be able to carry both, but we won’t overlap strains. Most of our yeast is wyeast but white labs has specific strains our customers like that aren’t available through wyeast such as: wlp090,99,41, and 008. Meanwhile wyeast has things like Pac-Man and Denny’s favorite which isn’t available through white labs