ECY-02 and ECY-23 slow starters?

[banik]

Hey all,

Sunday I made a 10g batch of morebeer's consecration clone, split it between two carboys, and pitched the two east coast yeast vials (may culturing).

Well, no activity as of this morning. Thoughts? Suggestions?

I may have to go get a couple packs of Rosellare tomorrow, if worse comes to worse...

 

[g-star]

I made a Flanders Red last summer with ECY-02. Took off in about 24hrs after a direct pitch into 1.056 aerated wort at 68F. Primary lasted about a week. After one year, the beer was down to 1.005.

The ECY strains are typically very healthy and have a much higher cell count than the comparable offering from Wyeast or WL. I would'n't worry too much, give it a few days to get going, and then 6-12 months to age, at least for the ECY-02 version. IME, the beer needs at least 6 months to get the pH down near 3. After the sourness has developed, another 6 months to develop those classic cherry/stone fruit/leathery esters. Its a good strain.

 

[Coff]

What temp are you fermenting at? Its my experience with ECY bugs, Bugfarm Bugcounty and Farmhouse Brett, that they like it a bit warm to get going. The first time I used Bugfarm the beer lagged for over 48 hours (no starter and just shaking to aerate) ambient temp was about 58-60f so I stuck it on a heating pad and warmed it up to 74f and it took off almost instantly.

So my advice is hit it with a little bit of heat and see if it takes off.

 

[banik]

FYI, these both started out after 4 days. I was fermenting at 68-72.

 

[poley]

You may have had some cell death during shipping, if they got too cold/hot. A long lag period is a sign of underpitching, the lag phase is when the cells reproduce.