First time pitching harvested yeast, did not use starter, slow start?

[brewing_wessels]

I harvested a few mason jars worth of yeast from a previous brew and it has stored in sanitized jars in the fridge for a couple months now. I do not remember the strain, but it was wyeast smack pack and an IPA extract recipe. I do know that it was -not- 1056 strain.

Yesterday finally got to brew again, and pitched about 3/8 of a mason jar worth of yeast into ~69F wort. I removed the jar from the fridge to allow it to warm up for approximately 4 hours.

Pitched about 8pm last night, it's now 10:30 am next day and no activity in the airlock yet.

I'm thinking that because I did not use a starter, and did not let the yeast warm up for very long, that it may take longer for ferment to start.

Question is - will the ferment eventually start, and I just need to be patient and wait longer? Or at a certain point, will I need to pitch more yeast?

Thanks.

 

[cegan09]

I'm no expert, but a few months seems like a while for no starter. 95% of the time that I use harvested yeast I make a starter. Pitch the whole thing at high krausen and it should take right off.

Where you didn't make a starter, you're probably going to have to wait. It can take my starters almost 24 hours to get going depending on how much yeast was in the jar and how old it is. Also, when you say 3/8 of a jar, are you saying you only poured in 3/8 of the contents, or that the jar was 3/8 full of yeast?

 

[brewing_wessels]

cegan- thanks for the reply. the jar was about 3/8 full of yeast plus a couple of inches of beer sitting on top of that. before i pitched I drank the beer off the top using a sanitized straw

 

[dwhite60]

I think you'll be fine. Give it some more time. Are you sure you've got a good seal on your fermenter? I just bought a new lid for one of mine and it's a beast to get on. Bagging cats would be easier.

All the Best,
D. White

 

[bigplunkett]

It will be fine. Just lag tome is all.

 

[FVillatoro]

I repitch slurry at least 3-4 times for every strain, and here's what I learned:

The best practice is to re-use the yeast the same day you rack the beer, or the very next day.
By doing this, my lag times are very short (a day later they are chugging very actively away), even if I only pitch 4 ounces of it.

One time I let some slurry sit in a fridge for like a week or so, and that one had a long lag time and was more estery - although it still reached FG.

Pitch as fast as possible, and depending on your OG, you don't need much.

 

[brewing_wessels]

I think you'll be fine. Give it some more time. Are you sure you've got a good seal on your fermenter? I just bought a new lid for one of mine and it's a beast to get on. Bagging cats would be easier.

All the Best,
D. White

Yeah, I thought of that, it is sealed as normal.

It will be fine. Just lag tome is all.

I repitch slurry at least 3-4 times for every strain, and here's what I learned:

The best practice is to re-use the yeast the same day you rack the beer, or the very next day.
By doing this, my lag times are very short (a day later they are chugging very actively away), even if I only pitch 4 ounces of it.

One time I let some slurry sit in a fridge for like a week or so, and that one had a long lag time and was more estery - although it still reached FG.

Pitch as fast as possible, and depending on your OG, you don't need much.

Thanks to both of you. Will just keep waiting.

 

[brewing_wessels]

The little guys are happily and vigorously fermenting now. I'd say it took about 48 hours for them to get going, which was a lot more than I was used to with dry yeast or smack packs. Thanks again for re-assuring me. Next time I will let them "warm up" more before pitching, and/or use a starter.