I under pitched, wait it out?

[randomsample]

Well, I've been doing all dry yeast for awhile and decided to brew a strong rye IPA with the 'Dennys Favorite 50' Wyeast strain. I didn't have time to make a starter, so I pitched two liquid packs.

Long story short they were propagators instead of activators, and the OG is 1.063

I left for the weekend, and it was bubbling sluggishly with no krausen when I got back. Should I just wait it out and see what happens or let a few packs of Notty take over and speed things up? (I really hate those stressed yeast fusile alcohol flavors).

 

[TotemWolf]

First of all you may have missed the fermentation. Secondly of it's going to make fusel alcohol it already has.

Take a reading before you pitch, but I would say give it time and it will be OK.

 

[Sedge]

definitely take a gravity reading before making a decision, and taste the sample you pull for said gravity reading. Its tough without having done it a lot, but see if you can detect any off flavors in that fermenting beer.

If you taste nothing bad and it has gone down several gravity points then I'd just let it finish. If you taste nothing bad but it hasn't gone down much then you might think about pitching additional yeast. If there are off flavors present they will be there no matter what you do, but you can try to halt the stressed yeast flavors by pitching more at this stage.

One thing to make sure of is properly rehydrating the yeast in boiled/cooled 80-100 degree F water for like 15 minutes before pitching it in. If after taking your gravity readings you calculate there is a sizable alcohol content (maybe its 50% attenuated or something) then get your yeast active in a mini starter of sorts before pitching it in. Just put some DME in that boiled/cooled rehydration fluid, or do what a buddy of mine does and just a couple tablespoons of sugar in his rehydration water. When you see it start foaming up and getting active pitch it then at high krausen. If you can aerate that yeast before pitching, all the better.

 

[randomsample]

Just measured and tasted. The SG is 1.025, which is a good drop (brewed Thursday). It doesn't taste ruined, a bit spicy, which might actually go well with the style. It still has a ways to go, but it does still show activity in the airlock so I'm hoping all will be well.