LowerMillHillBackyardBrew
Well-Known Member
Hello fellow brewers! A newbie here, with 1 successfull batch under his my belt. I've learned a lot from HBT and is very grateful for HBT's existence and I learn more about home brewing every day But now I have a quick yeast question. (Well, it turned out to be a pretty detailed question, but I hope that's just a good thing.) I've tried searching the forums, but haven't been able to find anything about this particular issue.
I brewed a christmas/winter ale (based on a Muntons pre-hopped LME kit) 3 weeks ago. OG was 1.063, after 2 weeks it was down to 1.030, not ideal, but not horrible either I guess, and I guess underpitching is the reason (read on for details). Another week have gone by, airlock has bubbled a little, but I haven't checked the gravity since. It could be further down by now. I plan on bottling tomorrow if it seems right.
Anyhow, let's get to the core of the issue:
I pitched a smacked & swollen smack pack of Wyeast 1450 Danny's Fave, and I wrongly believed a starter wasn't necessary with liquid yeast (it was my first time using liquid yeast) - only later did I read up and learn I should have made a starter! So I guess I underpitched :/ But fermentation started as it should after about 12 hours if I remember correctly, built a great krausen and was quite vigorous and vital for many days thereafter.
My plan was from the beginning to wash and reuse this yeast when the batch was done, since it's supposed to be a quite good and versatile yeast, and it was a bit expensive, + I'd like to learn how to wash yeast.
But after I learned that I'd underpitched I became worried that the yeast might be too stressed out to do more work later on? Or will washing it (and making starters for later batches) revitalize it? Should I even be worried? Toss it or wash it? Any other concerns, tips and/or tricks in this situation?
Another factor which might have had any impact is this: temperature. In the beginning I kept the temperature quite stable at 17-18 C. But after about a week winter suddenly hit us unusually hard here in Norway and temperatures outside dropped to -15 C (5 F) at the most, and since I live in a poorly isolated old house, temperature inside dropped to 13-14 C (57 F) at the worst at night and when I was at work. When I'm home I can relatively quickly get it up to 18-20 C, so in average the temperature has been around 17 C (62 F). Could this have stressed/done anything bad to the yeast?
Thanks a lot in advance for any answers!
I brewed a christmas/winter ale (based on a Muntons pre-hopped LME kit) 3 weeks ago. OG was 1.063, after 2 weeks it was down to 1.030, not ideal, but not horrible either I guess, and I guess underpitching is the reason (read on for details). Another week have gone by, airlock has bubbled a little, but I haven't checked the gravity since. It could be further down by now. I plan on bottling tomorrow if it seems right.
Anyhow, let's get to the core of the issue:
I pitched a smacked & swollen smack pack of Wyeast 1450 Danny's Fave, and I wrongly believed a starter wasn't necessary with liquid yeast (it was my first time using liquid yeast) - only later did I read up and learn I should have made a starter! So I guess I underpitched :/ But fermentation started as it should after about 12 hours if I remember correctly, built a great krausen and was quite vigorous and vital for many days thereafter.
My plan was from the beginning to wash and reuse this yeast when the batch was done, since it's supposed to be a quite good and versatile yeast, and it was a bit expensive, + I'd like to learn how to wash yeast.
But after I learned that I'd underpitched I became worried that the yeast might be too stressed out to do more work later on? Or will washing it (and making starters for later batches) revitalize it? Should I even be worried? Toss it or wash it? Any other concerns, tips and/or tricks in this situation?
Another factor which might have had any impact is this: temperature. In the beginning I kept the temperature quite stable at 17-18 C. But after about a week winter suddenly hit us unusually hard here in Norway and temperatures outside dropped to -15 C (5 F) at the most, and since I live in a poorly isolated old house, temperature inside dropped to 13-14 C (57 F) at the worst at night and when I was at work. When I'm home I can relatively quickly get it up to 18-20 C, so in average the temperature has been around 17 C (62 F). Could this have stressed/done anything bad to the yeast?
Thanks a lot in advance for any answers!