white labs WLP002

I brewed a magic hat #9 clone last night and after 18 hours I'm not seeing any noticeable yeast action.a few his ago I went on the white labs website and read that WLP002 tends to flocculate and sometimes gets stuck in the trub. They recommend shaking the fermenter every 15 minutes or so for the first few hours after pitching the yeast to keep the yeast suspended. Unfortunately, I didn't know this until today. I have started shaking it now but um concerned ours too late. another problem is I have to leave tomorrow on a five day business trip and I won't be able to keep an eye on things. If I don't see any visible action by tomorrow I'm thinking of dumping a packet of dry yeast in to jump start things.any thoughts?

 

002 can sometimes take a little while to start. Did you make a starter? I'd give it some time....

 

Thanks for the reply. No, I didn't make a starter. I certainly understand the benefits and yeast starter equipment is currently on my wishlist. So, when you say give it some time, do you mean just let it sit until I get back next Friday?

 

Good news! Just went to check and there is now blow off action!

 

If you didn't make a starter, then one vial is going to take a while to get started for sure. Glad it took off...

 

Use yeastcalc.com or mrmalty.com (I like yeastcalc) to determine the starter size. You almost never want to just pitch liquid without a starter unless the beer is very small. The extra lag time is only part of the problem, under pitching can result in off flavors as well. You don't need any real equipment to do a starter. A stir plate and Erlenmeyer flask is nice and with a stir plate you get more yeast out of a smaller starter, but any glass vessel and some tinfoil on top will do.