Just bitching about yeast.....

[freyguy]

Just moved to a new home and wanted to brew some beer since 1 of my 3 kegs is almost kicked. The new neighbors seem to like beer, so I want to get on their good side and keep them drunk!

My 60min IPA clone went fast the first time, so I figured I'd do it again. Had the extract, ordered some whole leaf from Freshops, and some Wyeast and grains from Austin Homebrew. I even ordered the ice packs. Well, I guess ordering on a Thursday is not a good idea. The yeast got to me on Monday, and was warm as could be. I refrigerated and smacked it on Thursday, hoping to do a starter on Friday. That sumbitch never expanded, so I didn't do a starter. By brew day on Saturday, it just had a slight bit of expansion. I brewed, aerated with pure 02, and hoped for the best. No signs of anything by Monday, so I went into panic mode and found the nearest homebrew store with yeast. Drove 1hr 15min each way yesterday to pick up some WL005, which is close enough. Went home to pitch, was out of 02, and my buddy grabbed my spoon, so I just pitched hoping there was some 02 left from Saturday. Nothing yet this morning, so I'm just praying for bubbles when I get home. (I guess I could have "rocked the baby", but hindsight is always 20/20. )

This is all new to me. Normally I have great starters with quick fermantations and blowoffs. Maybe my new house is cursed!!! I already have to figure out a way to keep the brew warm in the basement. It's 90 degrees outside and the dang beer has dropped to 66!!!!

I knew you guys would listen.

 

[Evan!]

I've had yeast take 3 days before. I've had yeast never take off before. It's not the end of the world. It gets under your skin and makes it difficult to RDWHAHB, but really...just...relax. It'll all be alright.

In the future, I'd keep a bunch of packets of generic dry yeast around, like Nottingham and Safeale US-56. That's what I do...and if I have problems with the liquid yeast, I know that at the very least, I can just pitch one of the packets (they ALWAYS start quickly for me), and I'll still have beer. Might not be the same end product, but beer it will be.

 

[freyguy]

It almost came to that. I did have some old Nottingham in the drawer, and I was halfway tempted to pitch it. I was just worried about the end result. I can't wait to get home from work to relax and drink some homebrew!!!! Maybe I'm going to have to start making starters a week ahead of time to help prevent this. Or maybe I'll start yeast washing and saving my own.

Thanks for the encouragement.

 

[98EXL]

Or maybe I'll start yeast washing and saving my own.

Thanks for the encouragement.

I've just started playing with that

 

[freyguy]

Whatcha think so far? Is it worth it??

 

[98EXL]

I dunno. I was able to extract a bunch of yeast from my British Pale Ale, going to see if I can't grow more of it over the next week

 

[Brewer3401]

I used to use White Labs exclusively until about 3 years ago.

SafAle US-56 is kick ass yeast, and for around $ 1.60 per sachet, much cheaper than liquid.

Also, I don't have to do a conventional starter, but I don't pitch dry either.

I boil 400 ml water, cool down, then about 30 minutes before I pitch, add the yeast to the 400ml water (follow instructions on literature).

I've found a huge difference when I add a small amount of yeast nutrient to the "starter" water.

Have done this way my last 6+ batches, and have never failed to get the bubbler pinned to the top of the airlock in more than 3-4 hours. And, my wort is never above 68 F when I pitch.

I initally tried the "sprinkle on top of wort, wait, aerate" (jeez, sounded like my first brew kit). Went 18 hours with no signs of anything, then I'd dump another satched in there. That worked, but took 2x the yeast, and I got a real slow start.

 

[freyguy]

I may go that route. That SOB finally took off yesterday. Probably because my AC broke and the temp down in the basement got up to about 72. The rest of the house was getting close to 90, but thats another story!