Help ! Yeast Emergency !

I have a yeast emergency. My liquid yeast won't start in a starter and I need to make a decision about how to save the batch in a few hours. I need some advice !

I'm brewing the Blue Moon clone described here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?p=250980&posted=1#post250980

My FIL bought me a Wyeast 3942 and brought it here from another city. It sat in a car overnight, but they are pretty sure it didn't freeze. The yeast was manufactured on August 4, 2006. I activated the pack at 1PM.

I sterilized 6 vials added 6ml of glyerine to each vial. I also made up a starter base, just like I have for numerous dry yeasts before. At 2:30PM I opened the yeast packet and added 15ml of activated yeast to each vial. The yeast packet had a very strong yeasty smell to it. We then poured the remainder of the yeast into the starter. We froze the vials.

At 6PM (5 hours later) there was absolutely no activity in the starter ! I thawed a vial and added it to the starter.

At 7PM there was absolutely no activity, so I made up another starter and thawed a second vial. I pitched it at 7:30. An hour later at 8:30 there is no activity in either starter.

In the mean time, I started the mash.

so...

a) Have I done something wrong with the starters ? Is liquid yeast slower to show fermentation signs than dry yeast ?

b) I want to salvage this brew. I have Morgan's dry ale yeast and Morgans dry lager yeast. I can get a packet of Nottinghams dry yeast tomorrow about noon. If I can't get a liquid starter to work, which dry yeast should I use for this brew ?

c) Is it worth trying another frozen vial ? I have 4 left. I was adding a couple teaspoons of sugar to a cup of water and boiling it in a microwave and then letting it cool. I tried yeast nutrient in the first starter and none in the second. I have no dry malt extract and nor have I ever used some for starters. Should I retry with dextrose for the starter base ?

Thanks

The manufacture date of your yeast was quite a long time ago. It may take several days for this yeast to wake up. The general rule of thumb is to make a starter one day plus a day for each month since manufacture before pitch time. I would just pitch the vial you have already started with. You said you have some dry yeasts available, so I would just wait until tomorrow noonish to see if there is any activity. If not, go ahead and pitch your dry yeast. As for which yeast...I don't know. Hopefully another member can shed some insight on which dry yeast you should use.

OK, good advice.

I had no idea the lag time was so long for these yeasts. I'm used to starting a dry yeast in a starter and seeing activity 30 minutes later.

I guess if I read this FAQ closer, some yeasts can take days to swell up the activator pack. So I guess this begs the question, how do people time their brewing to the readiness of the yeast ?

There are some significant difference between starters for dry and liquid yeast. For dry yeast you just add the yeast to some warm water to "proof" it before pitching. For liquid yeast you typically boil 1 pint to 1 quart of water with some DME to make a starter then pitch the yeast to it several days prior to brewing to increase your cell count. Dry yeast packets have many many more cells than the liquid vials or activator packs, plus the dry yeast lasts much much longer.

Check out Palmer's tutorial on making liquid yeast starters at www.howtobrew.com or do a search here on starters and you'll get tons of great info.

I brewed it. I pitched the second starter I made up and kept the first one for observation. I totally misunderstood making a starter for a liquid yeast. Thanks for the help.

The yeast starter that I didn't pitch is now starting to be active. It was pitched 23 hours ago. Still no signs of fermentation with the brew itself. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

I'm hesitant to pitch the starter that is active because it got handled and stirred a few times. The other starter was purer.

I'll keep the non pitched starter going for observation. If the brew doesn't start fermenting in the next day or so, I'll pitch it in.

Update: the yeast pitched into the Belgian Wit has taken off ! As an aside, this yeast was split from an Activator pack, mixed with glycerin, frozen, thawed, pitched into a starter and then pitched into the wort 3 hours later. Its about 18 hours after pitching into the wort when this picture was taken.

I am very happy. I have 4 more vials of that yeast in my freezer. *smile

Here is a picture:
http://picasaweb.google.com/beermeister1/YeastStuff/photo#5046030912513489858