Exploding Yeast!!!

[THEDIETZ]

it isn't really as dramatic as I made it seem. I brewed a Wit beer today and when I went to pitch my White Labs WLP400 Belgium Wit yeast...I shook it like it said to do (I always use their yeast..i love it...never have issues!!).....well it was like I just shook a bottle of soda...it exploded and I only got maybe 1/2 to 1/4 of the vial of yeast in my beer...so here comes the question...do you think what little I got in might multiply and I will be OK or should I just get ready now to visit the homebrew store for more yeast??

On a good note I brewed another beer today...a pale ale...just getting ready to pitch the yeast (i will be ready this time but do not see problems!)..and everything is going great!!!

 

[cuinrearview]

You'll have enough yeast eventually to ferment your wit(RDWHAHB), but you are a poster child for yeast starters. If you'd had that explosion before brew day you would have no problem making a proper starter with more yeast than you started with in the vial.

 

[tenglert]

I think it should work just fine, as long as the yeast is healthy. I recently did a Czech pilsner with White Labs Czech Budejovice Lager 802 that I got from the bottom of two bottles I brewed last summer. It was hardly any yeast at all, and it took a long time to get going. But it worked very well, and turned out to be one of my best brews yet.

I just gave them lots of 02 and had a pack of SafLager standing by just in case my experiment didn't work.

 

[THEDIETZ]

i think I will be fine...it looks like it is fermenting pretty strong already!!! thanks for the help guys

 

[Schnitzengiggle]

Open the vial slowly next time, and like cuinrearview suggested, make a starter next time! Put those two together slowly open + make starter, problems resolved

 

[malkore]

yeah, crack the cap open just barely, let it vent, then open it the whole way. Thankfully my LHBS warned me to open like this so I wouldn't be wearing $7 worth of yeast.

I rarely make starters for ales, but I inject pure O2 that really seems to help these 'pitchable vials and smack packs' reach optimal counts prior to active fermentation. At least I cannot detect any off flavors from stressed yeasts. I also don't tend to make very big beers.