Wyeast 1728 - Scottish Ale; Dead or just slow starter?

[edgarmsmith]

My LHBS does not carry Wyeast, and I have never used Wyeast. So, I thought I would give it a whirl. I have read differing opinions on whether there should be much concern with shipping liquid yeast during the summer. Some long timers on here indicated it isn't as big a deal as it used to be, so I thought it was worth a try. It took two days to receive my order of yeast, and the ice pack was melted when I got it. For what it's worth, I had a White Labs in the same shipment that took off on a starter earlier this week and was viable. I'm planning on doing a Christmas Ale on Sunday, so I started the Wyeast starter yesterday (Thursday). I have seen nothing in 18 hours. No signs of life at all, and I usually see something in my starters by now. I'm trying to be patient, and I have read that this yeast is slow. Does anyone have any experience with 1728? Should I plan on picking up two packs of White Labs Edinburgh just in case?

Thanks

 

[kh54s10]

I haven't used 1728, so I can't say how fast it should start.

I notice a distinct change in color in my starters. The wort turns from dark and somewhat clear to a creamy colored milky liquid. I also look for tiny bubbles rising in the wort. You may need a flashlight to make them show.

The other thing to do is take a gravity reading. If you have a refractometer you don't have to use much of the wort for a sample but you will need to make a conversion for the presence of alcohol. You don't really need to be accurate, just to know if the gravity is dropping.

When I plan a brew day and need a starter to finish on time, I always have some dry yeast on hand as a backup.

 

[mrgoodlife]

Just used it in a wee heavy 3 weeks ago. Bought it locally, and made a starter with it about 48 hours before pitching. It was active within 12 hrs in the starter. My only experience with it.

 

[MerlinWerks]

Used it for the first time today myself. When it arrived last week it was "coolish", meaning something less than body temperature. I pitched it in a 2L starter and it never developed an actual krausen, just a thin ring of bubbles around the perimeter which I've experienced with other yeasts as well. I let that ferment out, decanted (no cold crash necessary, floccs like mad) and split the result into two 2L starters. Let that ferment out and had a good 150ml of yeast to pitch in to the Wee Heavy I did today as well as another 50 ml to save.

So my experience is that it doesn't go crazy in a starter like say 1318, but if you at least got some bubbles and some visible growth at the bottom of the vessel you're probably ok...

 

[edgarmsmith]

Thanks everyone. I had nothing, so to be safe I built a starter out of the White Labs I picked up from my local store. I'm brewing a hefe at midnight so I can get my Christmas ale done tomorrow. Thank you U10 soccer for the midnight brew session!