Did I kill my yeast in my starter?

Made my first batch today. My one lingering concern is that either my yeast was DOA or I killed them when I made my starter by pitching them in too warm of wort. There didn't seem to be much activity in the starter (2 pints of water and 1/2 cup of DME, in a 2 gallon plastic bucket), though it did smell beer-ish when I pitched the yeast 24 hours later.

How will I know if my beer is fermenting okay? Right now it's not doing anything, and all the yeast has sunk to the bottom. The foam in the carboy (from aerating I guess) is dying down and there's no activity in the airlock. And if I did kill the yeast, can I save the beer by repitching?

 

Any idea what the temperature of the starter wort was when you pitched your yeast?

 

No, I didn't measure it.

 

Don't worry yet... See this post: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/fermentation-can-take-24-72-hrs-show-visible-signs-43635/

How long ago did you pitch it? Today sometime?

What kind of yeast did you use?

And no, re-pitching wont hurt.

 

Okay... I'll practice my controlled breathing and be patient. Not one of my virtues!

I pitched it... 4 hours ago. Even if I didn't kill the yeast it was probably a pretty mediocre starter, since I only got to shake it twice. I think I'll invest in a cheap stir plate in the future.

 

Sorry, I edited my response wit some more question.
But regardless, 4 hours is WAY to soon to worry. At least give it over night. I just had my own little panic a couple days ago, so I know how ya feel.

 

Ah, so you did!

It's WLP500 (Trappist Ale). My beer's SG is 1.092 (in theory, I don't have a hydrometer yet). When should I consider repitching?

 

With that gravity you're far from over pitching. If you think it will give you piece of mind, I don't think pitching a fresh vial without a making a starter is out of line. I would have just pitched two (maybe considered three) vials if I was short on time and hadn't made a starter.

In fact, looking at the details of your starter making, I'd say fu** it and pitch another vial WITHOUT making a starter,

Or wait. Either way, I think you'll be o.k.

 

Crisis averted! My beer is happily bubbling away.

Last night before bed (2:30 am):

This morning when I woke up (9:30 am):

 

Don't buy a stir plate... build one. I built one from a project box from Radio Shack, a PC fan, a switch (from Radio Shack), a Pulse Wave Modulator (from eBay) to control speed and a 12 volt DC power supply from a thrift shop. I also added rubber feet (the stick on kind from Radio Shack) to keep it from walking off the counter. I think my total cost was about $20, which was less than I paid for the flask and stir bar. There was just a few wires that needed soldering (but sure to use heat shrink tubing) and about 20 minutes of work with a Dremmel.

 

Start with a erlenmeyer flask without the plate. Then you can just set it on your counter and swirl it from time to time. Brewers friend can estimate your pitching rates by swirling without a stir plate.

Sounds like the better investment right now would be a couple good thermometers a hydrometer and maybe a wort chiller.


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Haha, totally fair. I bought a candy thermometer so I could measure the temp of my wort, but that was after I had made the starter. How do I measure the temp of my beer in the better bottle? I considered those stick-on ones for fish tanks, but plastic doesn't transfer heat well so I don't think it would give a good read. And a wort chiller is definitely on my list of things to get.

The problem with manually stirring my starters is that I'm rarely home, so unless I get in the habit of taking my starters to work with me, that won't work.

 

A stick-on thermometer would be fine. What I do is I put my carboys in one of those plastic laundry tubs from Wal-Mart ($8), along with a few gallons of tap water and a tablespoon of bleach. I add frozen water bottles to the water bath as needed to keep the water bath temperature in the low-to-mid 60's. With heat transfer, the temperature of the wort will be almost exactly the same as the water in the water bath, so I just measure the temperature of the water bath and use that as my fermentation temperature. I also cover the carboy with a wet t-shirt, draped into the water in the tub so it can wick up water as it evaporates off of the shirt.

 

Follow everyone's advice for your starters, and also use a pitching calculator. From what you described, you didn't multiply your yeast much, so you under pitched quite a bit, especially for a 1.096 beer, but you should be fine. I would do as others have said and pitch another vial or smack pack. Might be a bit late for that though. What style is it that are using a trappist yeast? Definitely let us know how it goes and what it tastes like!

 

I'm headed to my LHBS in a bit, I'll grab another vial and pitch it for good measure.

It's a Belgian Golden Strong. 1.092 OG, in theory. Do to some shenanigans I won't go into, it might have ended up a bit lower than that.

 

I headed to my LHBS and got some essentials. I had saves some of the unfermented wort, an it's right around 1.086 SG. After 24 hours, the fermenting wort is 1.054 SG. And it was ~72 degrees, so I put it in an immersion bath of cold water as you guys suggested. It's down to about 70 degrees now.

I also tasted it - it's promising! Still very sweet of course, and heavy on coriander and orange, but I'm hoping those flavors are going to mellow with time.