L17 no action

[etxflyer]

Have a festbier in a 5 gallon corny keg with a spunding valve. I got the wort down to about 68F with my Grainfather counterflow chiller, added about 10 psi with my CO2 from the kegerator to prevent suckback, and put it in fermentation chamber at 55F. Let it come down to temp overnight and pitched a packet of Heartland L17, but nothing happening after 2 days. I don’t have a LHBS option, so I ordered that yeast with an ice pack from IND. It was cool when I received it, but not cold by any means, and I’ve had it in refrigerator for a month or so before using. I found an online shop closer to me that I can order more yeast from so it might stay cooler in shipping. Anything in my process look off that would cause this besides yeast? I pumped my wort into the keg and let it splatter on bottom and never had a problem with wort not being aerated, but could the CO2 along with sitting overnight and coming down to temp cause my problem? Thanks for any input

 

[JohnSand]

I've had liquid yeast go bad during shipping. Mine smelled wrong.

 

[jdauria]

So just pitched the pack, no starter? That's underpitched for a lager. Not knowing your OG, so assuming just 1.050 5 gallon batch of lager, would need around 350 billion cells, the one pack is 200 billion on the day it was packaged and only drops more the older it gets. With the under pitch and cool temps, it's going to have a longer lag time before you see any activity. Lagers in general don't take off as fast as ales due to the cooler temps.

 

[etxflyer]

So just pitched the pack, no starter? That's underpitched for a lager. Not knowing your OG, so assuming just 1.050 5 gallon batch of lager, would need around 350 billion cells, the one pack is 200 billion on the day it was packaged and only drops more the older it gets. With the under pitch and cool temps, it's going to have a longer lag time before you see any activity. Lagers in general don't take off as fast as ales due to the cooler temps.

Yes, that’s a few things I failed to mention- one pack and it’s my first lager and OG was 1.051. I checked the yesterday and I was still at 1.051 (maybe 1.050). Would you recommend pitching another package or just be patient?

 

[JohnSand]

So now it's a week with no activity? I would pitch more yeast.

 

[etxflyer]

Thanks for the replies! Just ordered new yeast!

 

[jdauria]

Yes, that’s a few things I failed to mention- one pack and it’s my first lager and OG was 1.051. I checked the yesterday and I was still at 1.051 (maybe 1.050). Would you recommend pitching another package or just be patient?

Had a dry yeast take 5 days to get going in a lager recently and then barely moved much for another few days. But at this point, I would definitely pitch new yeast.

 

[etxflyer]

Well, my new yeast arrived today and I thought I’d share my experience to hopefully save someone else from making the boneheaded mistake I just made.

Was getting ready to pitch the new yeast and decided to double check my seal on my keg with a little CO2 pressure - and had a huge leak! Tried reseating the oring and still leaking so bad I could hear it! Decided I better check the gravity while it was open and it had fallen to 1.031! I was fermenting! And guess what, that wasn’t a leak - the prv on this keg holds open when you twist it 90 degrees. Talk about a facepalm moment! Apparently it just took a little while for the yeast to wake up and there was no pressure on my spunding valve cause the prv was open. Hopefully didn’t get an infection thru all this, gonna let her ride and hope for the best! Hopefully this will help someone down the line! Thanks again for the help and suggestions!

 

[JohnSand]

We all goof up sometimes. Some of my worst brew days resulted in good beer. I think yours will be fine.