Yeast inactive, substitutes?

[zachary80]

So two weeks ago or so I bought the ingredients for AHS Raspberry tart, including the WLP051 yeast (equivalent to 1272) with ice pack. Immediately put all the yeast in the fridge, and moved the hops to the freezer, crushed grains (mini mash) to the basement and liquid to the fridge.

I doubted the viability of the yeast so I made a 1L starter according to Mr. Malty. Now, about 60 hours later, there seems to still have not been any signs of fermentation. The yeast on the bottom is insignificant, and looks like as much as from the vial. I kept it at 67 then moved it up to mid seventies and no luck

Should I order more yeast, spend about 4x as much locally, or try to substitute with something on hand? I have Safale 04 and 05, Nottingham, T-58 (was going to use for bottling in another 4 weeks on my Gulden Draak clone), and a couple of wine yeasts.

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/product_info.php?products_id=12702

 

[Snicks]

Your not going to see a whole lot of slurry in 1L of starter, have you checked the gravity to ensure it hasn't fermented?

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Starters will very often show zero signs of fermentation. Do a gravity reading... I'm sure your yeasties are fine.

 

[zachary80]

Haven't taken a gravity reading, will do that tomorrow when I decide whether to dump it. I normally avoid it on starters so I don't risk contamination. I suppose a reasonable way to do it would be to throw it in the fridge overnight, and measure the wort that I would have decanted otherwise.

If that doesn't work, what do you think of the original question?

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Well try to stick with what you have. The cold crash sounds good... and overnight crash should do you just fine.

If you haaaave to substitute it I'd go for Nottingham as it will work hard and attenuate well and help out with the "Tart" in the name.

But if you want to have some fun with it (and I totally would... but that's just me) try S-04 for the main fermentation then finish it off with champagne yeast which I assume you have since it falls under the "wine yeast" category. Lavlin EC-1118 would be a good choice.

 

[zachary80]

Went ahead and brewed. Just checked the starter's gravity and it was 1.040 and smelled awful. Going ahead with the Nottingham