What to do about our yeast situation?

[KC_Rockaholic]

My friend and I brewed up a Tank 7 clone last weekend. Pitched 2 vials of WLP670 white labs yeast.

It's being kept at his house in a fermentation bucket. Problem is, he's told me there's never been any airlock movement. After 4 days, I told him, ok, open the lid real quick and see if there's any krausen. He said there was a small layer, but nothing like my IPA's I've been making at my place.

So I told him to make sure that lid is tight and has no leaks. Still no airlock bubbling.

I told him we might need to grab a dry yeast packet from the store and pitch that to possibly save the beer. Is this normal? All of my fermentations at my place have gone ok, and even aggressive.

This beer had an OG of 1.080, and it's hardly doing anything.

This is only our 4th brew, and our first time using a liquid yeast, so we didn't know what to expect. Next time we'll make a starter, but what would you guys recommend doing from here?

 

[LLBeanJ]

A small krausen is a good sign that something's happening. I would take a gravity reading to determine if it is fermenting. If so, leave it. If not, pitch more yeast.

 

[flars]

You have a krausen so it is beginning to ferment. You could have under pitched even with two vials of yeast depending upon the age of the yeast. An under pitch will increase the amount of time for a more vigorous fermentation.

What is the temperature of the fermenting beer? Is the fermentor in a temperature controlled environment?

Give it time. Fermentation is happening.

 

[KC_Rockaholic]

You have a krausen so it is beginning to ferment. You could have under pitched even with two vials of yeast depending upon the age of the yeast. An under pitch will increase the amount of time for a more vigorous fermentation.

What is the temperature of the fermenting beer? Is the fermentor in a temperature controlled environment?

Give it time. Fermentation is happening.

It's sitting at 70 degrees. When it was pitched it was in the mid 60's.

 

[SlitheryDee]

Did he say anything about a line of gunk further up on the side of the bucket? It's possible that it had a huge krausen that has already begun to recede.

 

[jodell]

My understanding with saison yeast is they are explosive fermenters to about half wayish, then go very slowly to finish of strong.

The 2 saisons I have made were about 1.055 and 1.060, fermenter down to 1.025 in about 10 hours (not kidding) then took 3 weeks to finish down to 1.005ish

I did make a starter for both of these...you all underpitched a bit however it should be fine with a saison that is suppose to have some ester flavor anyways

 

[65C]

I had some S-05 that barely moved for a week - the occasional bubble but it turned out okay in the end just took 2 weeks longer - temp was in range - but I'm skeptical about the temp ranges - I'm finding ferments are working better on the cold side or below range - so 15/16C where the packet said 17-21C - when I used at 19C the beer tasted like grapefruit

I'm just repitching sediment now and it's working fine - I've 3 diff yeasts on the go and I'll keep recycling until it stops working - but so far it's fine

 

[GoeHaarden]

I agree that you slightly underpitched, but 1.080 you should be good with two vials. I see you said that this is your first time with liquid yeast? Did you have this yeast shipped to you? If so, it could have been killed in transit with this summer heat even with an ice pack.

Take a hydrometer reading if you want a definitive answer as to whether you have any fermentation...

 

[Dcpcooks]

Your six days in, you have a bit of krausen forming. You didn't make a starter but you added two packs of yeast to a high gravity beer. Your experiencing a long lag phase and your probably just getting past the growth phase. I highly doubt you've completed fermentation in six days on a 1.080 beer. I'd leave it alone for a while longer. don't worry about the airlock as it's not a sign of fermentation.

 

[KC_Rockaholic]

I agree that you slightly underpitched, but 1.080 you should be good with two vials. I see you said that this is your first time with liquid yeast? Did you have this yeast shipped to you? If so, it could have been killed in transit with this summer heat even with an ice pack.

Take a hydrometer reading if you want a definitive answer as to whether you have any fermentation...

We got the yeast from the home brew store. It's the only one open in town right now that I know of. I don't really think they take good care of their liquid yeast. But if we have to pitch more, I'm ok with getting another vial. My friend said he'd do a gravity reading soon. So we'll see what it's sitting at.

I'm actually going over to the store right now. I left my hydrometer in a hot car and it warped

 

[GoeHaarden]

We got the yeast from the home brew store. It's the only one open in town right now that I know of. I don't really think they take good care of their liquid yeast. But if we have to pitch more, I'm ok with getting another vial. My friend said he'd do a gravity reading soon. So we'll see what it's sitting at.

I'm actually going over to the store right now. I left my hydrometer in a hot car and it warped

Always check the manufacture dates on the yeast too. They lose a good percentage of viability per month, something like 21%. If they were old then you may have underpitched by a lot.

Buy two hydrometers when you're there...those things always break at the wrong time.