American Ale II Wyeast not starting...

I smacked an American Ale II Wyeast pouch sunday night and shook it a bit went to bed and the next morning the pack was but very little swelled, shook it some more and after a few more hours it swelled up to normal... Pitched it in my brew at 76 degrees set it in my fermenting room at 64 degrees and 36 hours later the air lock is letting a bubble go very slightly every 30 secs or so... I often brew with this yeast but never took 36++ hours to start...

Should I RDWAHAHB ??

 

You pitched with the temp a little high. I prefer to pitch in the low 60's and then bring the temp up to 65-68 degrees. That could cause lag time for fermentation to start.

Bubbles in the airlock are not a reliable indicator of fermentation. A krausen is a good indicator. Pop the lid and check for one. If it is there then RDWHAHB. If not take a hydrometer reading.

You did not mention if you used a starter. I always use a starter with liquid yeast. Mrmalty.com is a great resource for making starters.

 

The temp might be high for a clean yeast profile, but most yeast really like to be at higher temps (80-85).

What was your OG?

 

I'm assuming the poster didn't make a starter because I feel they would have mentioned it after their description of smacking the yeast pack. Also don't think pitching high by that amount would really slow things down this much.

Anyways, with that said what you didn't mentions was the production date on the yeast package. Do you still having it laying around? In the garbage? I'm willing to bet it was probably a bit old which is leading to somewhat of a weaker looking fermentation. I've found that American Ale II is usually pretty aggressive when healthy and creates a huge krausen pretty quickly. All in all, you'll probably be fine since it seems to be working.

 

Thanks for all the coments guys, my OG was 1.044 and no starter was used, the pack was from may 2012 I should have cracked it a few days before I guess.. A lot of people say crack one day per month old, in my case would have been 5 days... I know I pitched a bit high but before the fermentation realy starts " because it never realy starts right off the bat" The wort had time to drop a few degrees...

Could my room be a bit cold for American Ale II ??

 

If it's from May it's a bit old so there are less viable yeast cells in there which is probably responsible for your slow start. Obviously there are still some good ones in there because it is fermenting and by now they've reproduced a bunch. 64* should be good, they'll get you there.