paradoc
Well-Known Member
Greetings,
First time for me using a starter, and need some reassurance. I've always used Wyeast activators before and just pitched directly. Following instructions on this site and the wiki, I made a small wort using 32 ounces of water, with LME, mixed to a gravity of 1.040. I boiled for 15 minutes, cooled in ice water to around 70 degrees, then put it into a sanitized half-gallon carboy. I pitched the yeast (White labs WLP029 German Ale/Kolsch) and it has been sitting for 24 hours on my counter at room temp with foil over the top. I shake it every 1-2 hours to aerate. I see NO signs of activity after 24 hours other than the wort looks cloudy. There is a VERY thin layer of yeast on the bottom of the container, and no krausen. I know it isn't unusual to not get krausen on a starter... but wondering if I've got a bad batch of yeast, or just need more time for it to start actively reproducing. Was going to brew today, but think I'll hold off till Saturday at this point and give it a few more days to kick-start.
Assuming I got bad yeast, can someone suggest alternative yeast? This is for EdWort's Bee Cave Oktoberfest recipe. I've got some dry Safeale S-04, Safbrew T-58, Nottingham, and Muntons sitting around. My closest LHBS is a 10 hour drive... so that isn't an option
First time for me using a starter, and need some reassurance. I've always used Wyeast activators before and just pitched directly. Following instructions on this site and the wiki, I made a small wort using 32 ounces of water, with LME, mixed to a gravity of 1.040. I boiled for 15 minutes, cooled in ice water to around 70 degrees, then put it into a sanitized half-gallon carboy. I pitched the yeast (White labs WLP029 German Ale/Kolsch) and it has been sitting for 24 hours on my counter at room temp with foil over the top. I shake it every 1-2 hours to aerate. I see NO signs of activity after 24 hours other than the wort looks cloudy. There is a VERY thin layer of yeast on the bottom of the container, and no krausen. I know it isn't unusual to not get krausen on a starter... but wondering if I've got a bad batch of yeast, or just need more time for it to start actively reproducing. Was going to brew today, but think I'll hold off till Saturday at this point and give it a few more days to kick-start.
Assuming I got bad yeast, can someone suggest alternative yeast? This is for EdWort's Bee Cave Oktoberfest recipe. I've got some dry Safeale S-04, Safbrew T-58, Nottingham, and Muntons sitting around. My closest LHBS is a 10 hour drive... so that isn't an option