Pitched yeast when wort was too cold!

[fun4stuff]

Made a vitality starter with wlp300 (that expired end of nov 2020).... lol. But I’ve used old yeast plenty times before in this fashion and been finE. Optimal yeast temp for wlp300 is 68-72 deg F.

cooled my wort with my immersion cooler. Noticed it was taking forever... after like 30-45 mins it was still at 80 deg. I said “screw it” and transferred to my fermenter and added yeast.

I get my inkbird temp controller hooked up with the temp probe in the my fermenter’s thermowell and it says the temp is 54 deg F!!! Wtf. I double check this with a third thermo meter and sure enough it’s 54 deg.

The thermometer i had been using while chilling is obviously broke. It’s now saying the ambient temp is 90 deg when it is more like 70 deg.

Anyway, i shouldn’t be that bad off, right?
Better than adding yeast when too hot. It should have a slower start, correct?

I’m slowly heating my fermenter up with a fermwrap... probably will take several hours to heat it up to 68 though. I shouldn’t rush out and buy more yeast tomorrow yet?

 

[HobbitBeer]

That's refrigeration temp, which is around what it should be stored at. If you think about it, most yeast comes in wort around those temps anyways, so as long as your sanitation is good, you're fine

 

[fun4stuff]

That's refrigeration temp, which is around what it should be stored at. If you think about it, most yeast comes in wort around those temps anyways, so as long as your sanitation is good, you're fine

That’s what i was thinking!! I’ve been storing the wlp300 yeast in my fridge for the last year... as long as the yeast aren’t shocked for some reason. Ambient temp is around 70 or so. So less than 20 deg diff.

 

[Bramling Cross]

You'll be fine.

Back in the ancient days of yore, I commonly pitched onto whole yeast cakes--talk about a fast start! I learned that chilling the wort to about 10F under the target fermentation temp would promote a more orderly, better controlled, and better tasting fermentation. You're doing more or less the same thing, but at a sane pitching rate. Your yeast might take a bit longer to get going, but they'll get going just fine.

At worst, you've lost half a day before the onset of fermentation. Fortunately, brewing is not a race.

 

[fun4stuff]

True that. I still occasionally pitch on part of a yeast cake!

 

[fun4stuff]

Well it was fermenting this morning, 12 hours later!