Wyeast 1214 Belgian Abby woes

[gedion]

So a few days ago i went to my LHBS and got a smack pack of the Wyeast 1214 Belgian Abby with the intent to make a starter for a slightly higher than recommended SG ale as recommended by the pack. i smacked it properly to let the nutrient out, and nothing happened after 10hrs or so. I read online that i could pitch it anyway, so i did... into my starter. 40hrs later i have no action visible in the starter. nothing in the air lock and more importantly nothing in the liquid itself. I spoke to my LHBS about it and they replaced it which is super awesome of them to do. the problem is i think the second pack is going to do the same. its been 8hrs since i smacked it and nothing! the temp in my house is about 75 so that shouldn't be an issue, and the manufacture date is March 2017. Any suggestions? this is really frustrating cause i have everything just sitting there ready to brew but no yeast. Not a good first impression for the smack packs.

 

[Easycreeper]

Did you check the SG of your starter to see if it has dropped at all? First step starters for me have shown very little activity with the second step picking up on activity with visible krausen for a few days.

 

[gedion]

Did you check the SG of your starter to see if it has dropped at all? First step starters for me have shown very little activity with the second step picking up on activity with visible krausen for a few days.

yeah there was no change. this morning the smack pack was inflated microscopically. i could still easily squeeze the bag and touch my fingers together but there was a little more resistance...i think. How long would you recommend i wait before opening the pack and making a starter, or do you think i should just take this one back and try something else?

 

[Oginme]

If you shake the smack pack, you should see some immediate swelling as CO2 is released inside the smack pack. If you don't see this happening, it is starter time.

 

[gedion]

If you shake the smack pack, you should see some immediate swelling as CO2 is released inside the smack pack. If you don't see this happening, it is starter time.

That was my problem, i used a starter before and there was no action. I'm afraid it will happen again with the new pack.

 

[andrewmaixner]

If your store carries Lallemand Abbaye dry yeast, (NOT SafBrew/Fermentis Abbaye), it will get you close to where your Chimay-strain liquid yeast will, in terms of taste.

If you weren't specifically targeting that yeast strain, but just wanted a "belgian ale" yeast, Westmalle and Duval are also commonly stocked and will get you there (see: http://www.mrmalty.com/yeast.htm ). The Chimay strain takes a little longer to condition into "good" beer compared to those, in my personal experience (about 1.5 to times as long).

 

[Revvy]

You'd think by now they'd actually print this on the labels, instead of just on the faq...

From the horse's mouth.

Quote:
From the Wyeast FAQ website:

3. Does the package need to be fully swollen before pitching?

No, The package can be pitched before activating, or at anytime during the activation process. The activation process "jump starts" the culture's metabolism, minimizing the lag phase.

How bout actually making a starter instead of worrying about the package not inflating. Then you'd know for sure...

This is a problem that's worried people for as long as I've been brewing.... Hell I don't even bother smaking the pack anymore I just slice both the yeast and the nutrient pack with sanitized scissors and dropping it right into the starter wort...

Smacking though fun, is never really necessary when making a starter....

Most of the time, we beat the hell out of that damn insert and we think it popped, and it turns out it never did to begin with.

And are you POSITIVE there was no activity in the original starter? Airlocks are never reliable...in fact why are you using an airlock for a starter anyway? Sanitized tinfoil is what most people including Chris White at Whitleabs reccomends.

A lot of times with a starter there's very little activity...all you end up with is a little film of yeast at the bottom, that only looks to be slightly more than what you pitched into it....

Did you smell it to see if it smelled like alcohol and soured beer?

In over a decade of brewing I've NEVER had yeast fail me, and I don't understand why so many new brewers seem to have that issue... that's why I wonder if it's not the yeast, but the brewer's perception that the yeast has failed them, when they've looked for the wrong signs... Like airlocks, or yeast packs not inflating....

I don't understand the idea somehow that in the 21st century modern yeast can't be trusted... Heck even Whitelabs just discovered as reported here that their yeast is a lot hardier than even THEY thought....

It's also been proven that yeast months, years even out of date can still produce viable cells with starters.

Just giving you something to think about.....

 

[Revvy]

yeah there was no change...

So you did actually take a reading of your starter?

 

[gedion]

So you did actually take a reading of your starter?

I did, i wanted to make sure there wasn't anything i missed. the good news is that this morning im starting to see a couple bubbles in the new starter. its way slower than im use to but its getting there. ill give it another day or two to see what it does.

 

[Upthewazzu]

I've had some starters go slow. For instance, just this past week I made a Kolsch yeast starter and had little activity. Pitched it into 5.5gal of sweet wort and after 3 days of chewing the sugar it's busting out of the carboy. I would not have expected that given it's very weak starter activity.