A terrible yeast mistake.

[kasky99]

So here's the thing: I live in Japan and brewing supplies are hard to come by. I brewed 10 gallons of beer this weekend and went to make a starter with some recycled yeast from my last brew. This was after I had already almost finished the beer. ( I usually let the beer sit in my fermentation room over night to get down to optimal temperature and pitch the next day.) I opened the jar and the yeast smelled bad. Rotting meat, no doubt in my mind that it was bad, kind of bad. I figured I was over reacting and poured it into another container to let my wife look at it. No doubt, still bad. This left me in an odd spot. With no way to get new yeast without ordering it an with no spare packs of dry yeast (I'm an idiot) this left me with only the half of a pack of dry yeast in the freezer I was using for an experiment. I don't even remember what brand it was because it had been so long. Long story short I split it in half, made two starters, let it go for 24 hours, cold crashed, decanted, and pitched. I know it is going to make beer of some sort, but there is no activity 24 hours later at 64 degrees and not I am not sure what to do. I know the lack of planning is my own fault, but any suggestions other than letting it do it's thing at its own pace?

 

[AmandaK]

Not knowing the 'random dry yeast' that you pitched, I would have to assume that you underpitched. By a lot. 24 hours would be the minimum I would wait before even looking at the fermenter. If you don't have activity in 72 hours, then report back.

Let it do it's own thing. Messing with it will not help your stressed out yeasties now.

 

[RM-MN]

I've had a number of beers take more than 24 hours to show any signs of life. Let this one go for a bit longer. Here's a bit of info for you to read while you wait. http://www.brewgeeks.com/the-life-cycle-of-yeast.html

 

[kasky99]

Yeah, I figured about as much. I am actually curious what kind of crazy off flavors this may give me with the almost monumental under-pitch I gave it. For the record one of them is now starting to krausen. It started just about under what the 30 hour mark should be.

 

[WoodlandBrew]

Under pitching means more yeast growth which means more esters and other fermentation by products such as diacetyl. It can also result in low attenuation if there was not enough oxygen at the time of pitch.

If yeast is hard to come by, I wouldn't dump the yeast that smells off. The smell you are describing is indicative of autolysis. If you are concerned about bacteria contamination then you could acid wash the yeast. (Or wash with Chlorine Dioxide) Use a small amount of yeast in a starter to rebuild healthy cells. One or two milliliters of yeast in a 1 litter starter would be a good start.

 

[NBBC13]

Tried a yeast starter for the first time this weekend. Did everything correct, as far as I could tell. but saw zero activity through my bubbler on an old milk container. let it sit for 24 hours. (didn't know you were supposed to stir/swirl the starter). Finally, I assumed it was dead yeast maybe due to an infection. So, I decided to swirl it just to see if anything happened before I tossed it. The second I started to swirl, it went crazy. Needless to say, I've been cleaning yeasty-wort off my basement ceiling and walls and floors all afternoon. oops.

 

[ThaBrewFather06]

My buddy and I brewed Friday afternoon last week and we pitched our yeast in at the end. I was drinking a "little" lol when I made my starter and after 30 hrs I was pissed thinking I had put the yeast in water too hot. I went to my LHBS and bout a second vial of white labs yeast for 6$ "my brew is supposed to come out to around 9% ABV so white labs is the best for high ABV", when I got home my fermentation had started and was bubbling every 4-5 seconds. Long story short give it some time but I'd order some more yeast and add it when it gets there. I would have let you mash sit without any yeast till I ordered some if it were me but since you already added what you had I would get some new to put on in a few days.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

IMHO you definitely want to have 2 or 3 samples of yeast on hand, particularly if its hard to come by in your neighborhood. They keep in the frige for quite a while, and if yo're doing starters you can replace them by just pouring a little of the pitching slurrey into a sanitized colelction container (like the tube they came in if you're using liquid yeast).

 

[kasky99]

IMHO you definitely want to have 2 or 3 samples of yeast on hand, particularly if its hard to come by in your neighborhood. They keep in the frige for quite a while, and if yo're doing starters you can replace them by just pouring a little of the pitching slurrey into a sanitized colelction container (like the tube they came in if you're using liquid yeast).

Yeah, I know. Like I said, I was an idiot on this one. I usually keep at least one packet of dry yeast on hand for emergencies (IE I drop my starter or something crazy). This time I simply found myself with very limited options so I did what I could with the time that I had.