Long lag time, batch botched?

[Lloyd7703]

I am brewing a Belgian Dubbel for my third ever batch and I am now into the eighth hour of lag time and fermentation has not really started. I am using White Labs WLP530 and all of the reviews I have seen on this yeast is that is starts fast and ferments hot. I am doing starters with all my batches now and I did a 2L started this time. Fermentation started quickly in the starter but not in my actual batch. I did a half decant of my starter (which I now regret and believe this may be the source of my problem).

My very first batch had a very long lag time and didn't really fully attenuate and had some funky esters in it. My hunch is that this will be the same. Does anyone have experience with using WPL530 in a Dubbel and long lag times?


Isaac

 

[WDT]

Not to worry. If your process and sanitation were sound I wouldn't worry about it. Check on it in the morning and I bet it will be off and running.

It sounds like you did everything right. I decant all my starters as well and it isnt uncommon for me to have 12+ hour lag times.

 

[Albadia]

Ill just leave this here!

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/fermentation-can-take-24-72-hrs-show-visible-signs-43635/

 

[WileECoyote]

Please read the Above post…

Cheers

 

[Cyclman]

What do you mean by a "half decant"? If you crash chilled it, the yeast should have settled and you can pour off everything but the slurry.

I wouldn't worry even if you didn't get all the yeast in the pitch, Belgians can benefit from slight underpitching.

Did you inject O2 or thoroughly shake? This is probably more important in a Dubbel. If you plan on doing lots of big beers, I highly recommend an O2 injection system.

 

[Lloyd7703]

By half decant I meant that I had decanted roughly half of the liquid. It appeared that the top half was grow clear as the yeast was falling out of suspension so I figured it was safe. I have read articles that said if you decant then you are throwing out yeast that are still in suspension and keeping only the yeast that are quick to flocculate.

And yes, I always aerate. I use an aeration system with a stone (not pure oxygen) and aerate for 45 minutes to an hour or until foaming becomes a problem in the carboy.

About a half hour after writing this the fermentation kicked off with a bang. Thanks for all of the good information and sorry for the fire drill.


Isaac