WY1968 too cold

[ruascott]

Made a batch yesterday, at 24 hours now post pitching and zero activity.

I pitched some WY1968 I had washed and stored from a batch one week ago.

I was tardy in pulling my jar of yeast out of the fridge to let it come up to room temp. It no longer felt cold at all, but due to a family, emergency I was in a rush to get it pitched.

I pitched it into roughly low 70s, 1.044 OG wort. Swirled up my yeast in the jar and pitched. Put into my ferm closet in basement which is 59F.

I had used this same process with 3 other beers over the last couple weeks, same yeast, same temps, and it was typically going crazy within 12-18 hours.

1) But this is the first of the washed yeast.
2) I think the yeast might have only been in the 50s F when pitched.

Wort is sitting a 58-60F now. My thoughts were to swirl it a bit and put it into warmer area. I think the yeast totally dropped out and won't get going otherwise.

 

[ruascott]

Am at 36 hours now and still nothing. Temp, strip is steady at 61F.

If nothing going by tonight, think I'm going to have to try to do something with this.

 

[YYC]

Give it another day. That happened to me once. It eventually started and finished at the expected FG. In my case, I repitched slurry that could have used a bit more time to warm up from the fridge into 67F wort. Then, I put the fermenter in a 64F basement and a pseudo swamp cooler filled with pretty cold water. So, it was probably too cold, but it eventually got to work and the beer turned out well.

 

[ruascott]

Give it another day. That happened to me once. It eventually started and finished at the expected FG. In my case, I repitched slurry that could have used a bit more time to warm up from the fridge into 67F wort. Then, I put the fermenter in a 64F basement and a pseudo swamp cooler filled with pretty cold water. So, it was probably too cold, but it eventually got to work and the beer turned out well.

I think it might be slowly getting going. I hate fermenting in buckets rather than carboys, for just this reason. In a carboy, I'd be able to easily see what's happening. The buckets often give no airlock activity, and I don't want to take the lid off at this point.

But I did push down on the lid gently, which sent the airlock bubbling, and with my nose over it, it smelled like fermentation. The temp strip on the bucket has picked up a degree or two above ambient, as well.

I had an English yeast (S-04) get way too hot on me recently, ruining my beer (IMO), so I'm paranoid about keeping these cool. I love this yeast (WY1968) in almost all my beers as long as it stays down in the 60s.

 

[Natdavis777]

I love this yeast (WY1968) in almost all my beers as long as it stays down in the 60s.

Same here. It's great in hoppy beers as well. I typically ferment this yeast @ 62F. I harvest a bunch of 1968, 007 (higher attenuating version) and 001 and have about 20 pint sized jars on hand.

 

[JonM]

1968 is known for petering out when it gets too cool.

I always run it at about 64 then, when activity starts to slow (which can be 12-18 hours after it starts - seriously it's a beast when it gets going) I ramp it up to 68-70. It can stop early if you don't warm it up.

 

[ruascott]

1968 is known for petering out when it gets too cool.

I always run it at about 64 then, when activity starts to slow (which can be 12-18 hours after it starts - seriously it's a beast when it gets going) I ramp it up to 68-70. It can stop early if you don't warm it up.

Was going strong, up to about 68 this morning.

Took 3 days to show action, finally taking off on day 4.

I'll make sure to give my yeast plenty of time to warm up next time.

 

[oceanic_brew]

Using this yeast for the first time currently on a Three Floyd's clone. Pitched at 61 and had activity in 12 hrs and vigorous fermentation within 24 hrs.

I've fell in love with hop forward beers the last couple months and am looking forward to the results with this yeast.

I've been using 1056 for all my IPA/APA type beer

 

[ruascott]

Using this yeast for the first time currently on a Three Floyd's clone. Pitched at 61 and had activity in 12 hrs and vigorous fermentation within 24 hrs.

I've fell in love with hop forward beers the last couple months and am looking forward to the results with this yeast.

I've been using 1056 for all my IPA/APA type beer

It's a great yeast, I too use it on hoppy IPAs.
It will definitely give a bit different result than 1056.

All my others also took off very fast at that temp. My pitching yeast was just too cold in this instance.

 

[Natdavis777]

My experience is that this yeast is very fast fermenting. Usually finishes within a few days. So it's important to slowly raise the temp at the appropriate time to assure the beer finishes where it needs to and can clean up

 

[eadavis80]

This is a big reason why I always make a starter with harvested yeast, but I know sometimes things get in the way and don't allow for that to happen. Glad to hear it's chugging along now. I hear you on the FA (fermentation anxiety) when it comes to fermenting in buckets. It stinks not seeing what's happening and worrying the yeast aren't kicking in. Ever thought about a Big Mouth Bubbler? I have one and two buckets and assuming I only have 1 beer in primary at a time, I ALWAYS choose the Bubber due to my FA.

 

[ruascott]

This is a big reason why I always make a starter with harvested yeast, but I know sometimes things get in the way and don't allow for that to happen. Glad to hear it's chugging along now. I hear you on the FA (fermentation anxiety) when it comes to fermenting in buckets. It stinks not seeing what's happening and worrying the yeast aren't kicking in. Ever thought about a Big Mouth Bubbler? I have one and two buckets and assuming I only have 1 beer in primary at a time, I ALWAYS choose the Bubber due to my FA.

I have 2 better bottles...and they are great. But they were already in use.

I've got 4 different primaries going right now, and didn't want to wait! Ran out of beer entirely a couple weeks ago, was a travesty! Vowed not to let that happen again, so pulled the buckets into action.

 

[eadavis80]

Wow - 4 different primaries! I think I've only used all 3 of mine at once one time. Impressive! I've got 2 batches in secondary now so I'm hoping they're bottled and ready for the Final 4 and the Masters!