yeast CPR

[LuizArgh]

ok, here's the thing: tuesday I made a 85 liters (roughly 22,5 gal) Tripel batch which I split in 5 carboys. the idea was to test yeast profiles, so I made the beer with only pilsener malt, 12% sugar, coriander and bittering hops, aiming at 1082 OG. Each carboy received a different yeast (after about 30 min. aeration):

- wyeast 1762 belgian abbey II
- Wyeast 3522 belgian ardennes
- wyeast 3463 forbidden fruit
- white labs wlp550 belgian ale
- white labs wlp565 belgian saison I ale

For the white labs', I made a starter a few hours before the pitching. For the Wyeast ones, I trusted the smack pack and pitched directly. Bad, bad idea.

now, 30 hours after pitching, with fermentation going on at 21.5ºC (71ºF), both white labs' carboys are exploding with krausen and bubbling like hell. The wyeast ones, on the other hand, show no sign AT ALL of fermentation. Not even a miserable foam has been formed yet. Intrigued, I checked my trash bin and found out that all 3 packs were past best before date... in march . On top of that, I later read in these forums that the best pitching rate for this kind of high gravity brew would be 300 billion cells - 3 times what's in those smack packs when they're at full health.

So, basically, what do I do now? I dont have anymore of those yeasts and because they're not sold in Brazil, i'd have to buy them from morebeer and wait at least one month (I have a strong suspicion that the beer would be long gone by then). I don't wanna add dried S-33 or T-58, which would save the beer but ruin the experiment completely. Is there any way I can help those poor fellas in my carboys to reproduce and eat?

I'm pretty sure they WILL wake up at some point and start fermenting, but I was hoping I could avoid the off-flavours created by the underpitching...

 

[Bensiff]

Yeah, you are really in a tough spot. If it wasn't for your location I would say run down to the store and get more yeast so you don't ruin your experiment. The potential for problems resultant of underpitching are great enough I wouldn't want to risk that much beer in hopes of saving an experiment that I would already know is flawed. That said, at this point what I would personally consider is getting some S-05 yeast and pitching that to bring up the pitching rate. The neutrality of the S-05 should let the WY strains shine through, albeit muted compared to a full pitch...but, enough to get an idea if you like the character enough to go back and further test.

 

[jtakacs]

i'd wait at least 72 hours before doing anything... after that, i'd kick the carboys and wait another 24 hours... there is viable yeast in there, i bet it will take off.

not that its empirical data, but i've found that white labs yeasts take off quicker than wyeast (and fermentis even quicker)

considering the experiment (great idea btw) i'd hold off doing anything for a bit...

 

[beerkrump]

Relax, you should be OK. The yeast is just busy propagating prior to fermentation. The other batches did the same thing. They just had a head start.

 

[DrawTap88]

Relax, you should be OK. The yeast is just busy propagating prior to fermentation. The other batches did the same thing. They just had a head start.

+1 to that. All it takes is one cell to start fermentation (lots of reproducing), so even if your smack packs were only half alive they'll still get the job done.

 

[Bensiff]

+1 to that. All it takes is one cell to start fermentation (lots of reproducing), so even if your smack packs were only half alive they'll still get the job done.

That's a big maybe, this is a recipe for a stalled fermentation not to mention that much of an underpitch will likely result in significant flavor problems. I still say the cell count should be bumped with some good clean fermenting yeast for the reasons I originally posted.

 

[jtakacs]

boy, i don't know - he's doing a yeast experiment. adding another yeast now ruins that completely.. maybe waiting has some detrimental effects from a long lag (and i would consider this a lag), but not nearly to the level of ruining the experiment.

depends on the goal i suppose...