First Time Using Liquid Yeast...It's been 20 hours with nuttin'

I have always used dry yeast, but wanted to try some liquid I used White Labs Cali. Ale and pitched at 70 degrees. Directions said to take out 3 hours prior, shake good and pitch. I did that. Says it should start within 5-15 hours. I didn't want to deal with a starter, and the beer is only going to be about 5% ABV (APA), so I thought no big deal. Usually I can see there is something starting with small bubbles forming at the top or something...but nada so far. How long should it take without a starter?

Depending on how old the vial was it may take up to 36 hours. What is temperature?

Temp is 74 right now.

I don't know why, but I have had long lag times with all the liquid yeast I have used. EZyeast and whitelabs are the two brands. Usually it's taken 24-36 hours, but the whitelabs was a lager and took 96 hours to start. I've used a starter each time, but there must be something seriously wrong with how I am doing it to make such long lag times.
The only exception to this is when I used the yeast cakes from the white labs yeast to make bocks. Lag time was maybe 8 hours.

you really do need to make a starter with liquid culture. They claim there is enough viable cells but it ain't so. Only one I have used (and am never using again for so many reasons!) is easYeast. Starter definately got it going faster. Without, well 20 hours sounds pretty normal. If it does not go much after that pitch some more, or pitch a nuetral type dry yeast.

I always make starters with liquids and ive had good luck lately. Usually starts within 12-24 hrs. I had one start within about 5 hours a few brews ago. It was blowing off by morning. Give it more time before you worry. Id give it 48 hrs before repitching

Don't get too worried yet but you really want your fermentation starting sooner than 20 hours. As stated, a starter is always a good idea with liquid.
By the way, do you have a good seal on your fermentation lock/blow off tube?

Yea...I have a carboy cap and airlock on it. That is not the prob. I have brewed a bunch of batches and I can tell when they are going to start. Not even a few white bubbles to say hello, yet. I am not worried about it, I have a pack of good ol' Safale US-05 if needed. I just never used the liquid before and wanted to see if I could taste a difference. I'll let you all know what happens.

Did you airrate your wort prior to pitching the yeast? This will also assist in obtaining a quick initial fermentation.
I have also heard that in some cases when fermentation lags, adding a yeast nutrient can help. Have have only added during boil, perhaps someone has tried adding after yeast is pitched and can provide more information.

I've only ever used White Labs liquid yeast and never had problems. I brew one day and pitch the yeast that evening. The next day I usually have activity. That is until the batch of strawberry blond that I just bottled. I was going to brew on a Saturday, but something about the yeast didn't look right, and since the local HBS isn't open on Monday or Tuesday, I waited until Wednesday to brew and picked up some dry yeast just in case. More than 24 hours later, there was no activity at all. Pitched the dry after hydrating and it took off.

My problem was with White Labs California Ale yeast. Don't know what the problem was, but it just looked wrong.

Well.....it took 40 (!!!!!) hours, but now is off and running. If there is no flavor difference, which I really doubt there will be, I will be going back to dry from now on. Can someone tell me why you would pick liquid over dry? Just seems like a big pain vs. just throwing a packet it. Maybe a specific flavor like hefe or something???

I always picked liquid so I wouldn't have to rehydrate or make a starter. It was just shake it up and dump it in. But now that I had some issues, I think I'm going to try dry the next couple of batches.

Our Amber ale had a long lag time too... about 42 hours before it got going and we used the liquid Cali ale yeast.

It was a nervous 2 days...

Liquid is only really necessary if you are making a style where the yeast adds a specific flavor profile as in a hefeweizen. Liquid yeast will always benefit from a starter, so if you are planning on using liquid, make the starter.

Wyeast's "activator" pack usually starts off fairly quick (without a starter) as long as you let the pack swell before pitching and it's reasonably fresh.

You never mentioned if you did a partial or a full boil and if you did anything to aerate. You need an oxygen rich wort to use liquid yeast unless you make a starter of course. In any case, there are way more strains of liquid available vs. dry. I've used all kinds of dry yeast so far and I'm experimenting with liquids a bit now. I suppose I'll come to my own conclusions but you can't beat dry for simplicity and price, that's for sure.

Bobby_M said:

You never mentioned if you did a partial or a full boil and if you did anything to aerate. You need an oxygen rich wort to use liquid yeast unless you make a starter of course. In any case, there are way more strains of liquid available vs. dry. I've used all kinds of dry yeast so far and I'm experimenting with liquids a bit now. I suppose I'll come to my own conclusions but you can't beat dry for simplicity and price, that's for sure.

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I did a partial (3gallon) boil and I have the siphontap with the aerator that I use as well. I know that I need to aerate when I do full boils, I have done those, too. I am going to stick to dry unless I see a need to flavor the beer with the yeast. Thanks for all the help, guys!!!

ya better get out the big blow off tube

bull said:

ya better get out the big blow off tube

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Naw...just a good krausen and a lot of airlock activity for the past 3 days. Never crawled up to the top of my primary 6.5g fermenter.

I brewed a Dunkel Weiss on sunday and also first time using liquid yeast (White Labs Hefe 300). I thought I might have cooled the wort a little too much by the time I topped it off and pitched, SG was at 1.056. But a little over 24 hours later it was fermenting like crazy. Got a little warmer here the past day and the airlock is still bublling pretty steadily. I wrapped a wet t-shirt around the bucker and running the fan on low while I'm at work. Smelling great though. Lets hope it tastes as good. First time maiking Dunkel Weissbier. Its an original recipe kit from a local HBS. Figured I'd give it a try.

This is all great info - I am using liquid for the first time tomorrow - a 3068 smack pack. I hit it this afternoon and it is already bulged up.

Update - I didn't make a starter and pitched at wort temp 65F. It is now 14 hours in and no activity. I'll give another day or two and see what happens.....

My brother has always used liquid yeast from a vial and has had really long lags for yeast activity. I don't think he ever did a starter. I have always used the activator smack packs and shake the wort for a good ten minutes prior to pitching. I haven't had a raging krausen take longer than 12 hours.

for the love of god wont someone do a search on liquid yeast and lag time. It can take a long time to get started especially if you dont use a starter.

**** I think I'm becoming EACish, good thing I'm trashed and wont remember.