nervous over unusually slow fermentation start

[Schol-R-LEA]

I brewed a Maris Otter/Cascade SMaSH this past weekend, with an OG 1.057, and I pitched it with a starter using WLP 013 (London Ale). I attached a blow-off tube, in the expectation that the fermentation might overflow an airlock. The tube leads to about a half-gallon of StarSan solution. The starter was smaller than I intended - 800mL - and the temperature at pitching around 85*F. I know that this is a very high pitching temperature, high enough to possible shock the yeast; but it shouldn't kill it, unless something else is going on. I also realized quite late that I had forgotten to aerate the wort.

It has been three days, and there is no sign of either krausen or CO2 generation (indeed, as the wort cooled, the StarSan solution began to back up into the tube, and I had to release it twice to keep it out of the beer). I know that these are not infallible signs of fermentation, but I am still getting nervous; I have never had a stuck fermentation before, at least not right out of the gate.

Is there anything I might have done wrong that anyone of you can see from this description? I have pitched at high temperatures before without problems, even though it is not desirable to do so. Is there anything anyone can recommend I try? Even just a bit of reassurance would help at this point.

 

[jsmoon888]

I would repitch. I always keep some Nottingham in the fridge for emergencies.

 

[IL1kebeer]

Did you see signs of fermentation in your starter? If you saw signs in your starter then your yeast should be ok. Although 85 is rather high to pitch at. If your starter was at 70F, then a 15 degree swing will shock the hell out of the yeast and they might be in defense mode.

Or maybe you got a bad vial due to poor handling and your yeast were dead to begin with.

 

[Demus]

You said the problem in your post, forgot to aerate. No oxygen = no replication = extended lag phase. Get an oxygen injection kit and hit it for :45 seconds or so and I bet it'll kick off nicely assuming your starter actually fermented...

 

[brew_ny]

since it is still wort not beer if your fermentation hasn't started

take a whisk and stir the hell out of it and see what happens

you can always pitch more yeast if need be

S_M

 

[Demus]

It's also possible your starter didn't produce. What was your process making the starter?

 

[Schol-R-LEA]

The process was pretty simple: I boiled the 800mL of water with 3 oz. (about 85g) of DME for 15 minutes (boil time; the total time was more like 25 minutes). I then covered the flask's mouth with aluminum foil and allowed it to cool for two hours before putting it in the refrigerator to finish cooling. After it was cooled, I added the White Labs yeast vial (which had also been in the refrigerator) and the sanitized stir bar, covered it with the foil again, and put it on the stir plate for about 15 hours. I then pitched it directly from the flask, which was at air temp (around 72°F) by that time (yes, that means a 13°F difference in temperature).

I just checked the blow-off tube, and there does seem to be a slight amount of movement in the right direction, but that could just be from changes in air pressure. I think I'll repitch if nothing has changed by tonight (I don't have any yeast on hand right now, so it will have to wait until I am back from work). I'll see about getting aerating equipment, or at least a solid bung so I could give it a good shake next time.

Oh, I can see large amounts of floating gunk in the middle of the wort; I am assuming, or at least hoping, that this is just trub that hasn't settled yet. It is a bit unsettling to see, however (pardon the pun), but I expect it is normal, and that the reason I haven't seen it before was because I normally primary in a bucket rather than a carboy.

 

[unionrdr]

Probably yeast rafts. I had WL029 do this to me once. And I aerated,but I think it was the temp difference that did it. By th time I figured to swirl it up,the yeast rafts had sunk back into the wort & started fermenting.

 

[Demus]

The stuff you see is the yeast finally getting started. Would have been much sooner if you properly aerated(8-10 ppm oxygen). Starters are great to increase pitch rate but proper aeration as just as critical and for some reason way under emphasized on this forum and even many home brewing books. Read Yeast by JZ and C White if you want to really understand and control fermentation to your best advantage...

 

[Schol-R-LEA]

OK, so it does seem to finally be building up a head of steam, though it is going quite slowly. I just hope that the bodies forming in and on the wort are in fact yeast, and not, say, mother of vinegar (we've had some problems with fruit flies in our house, and most fruit flies host Acetobacter).

 

[unionrdr]

From my experience,they're just yeast rafts finally getting around to the job at hand.