Re-pitched Dry Yeast on Secondary - no activity

[brewbydesign]

On advice from the guys at the home brew store I re-pitched a dry packet of Safale us-05. It's been 72 hours and no activity. I also added a 1/8 tsp of nutrients.

The reason for doing so was my imperial russian stout only achieved a 1.028 ( which now I know to leave longer in primary)

Anyways I was wondering if I should mess with it anymore to get the yeast to do something? No activity on the top and the airlock is 2:00 min or more. It's been in secondary for 6 weeks with French Oak chips.

P.S. it taste amazing last time I checked the SG...so I hope I didn't screw it up.

 

[Carter1932]

What was your OG? Hard to say if you got average attenuation w/o knowing the OG first.

Also, what yeast did you originally use, Safale US-05?

 

[malkore]

So a Russian Imperial Stout...has a lot of alky-haul in it. Pitching unhydrated, inactive yeast into it basically ensures nothing will happen (but the LHBS got your hard earned cash for that satchet of yeast).

In these events, you need to hydrate the yeast first, and very possibly make a small starter to get it awake and metabolizing sugars. Once its rocking, pitch into the RIS and see if it finishes off.

But the real question is what was the exact recipe and OG...1.028 might not be that ungodly high, especially since you say it tastes good (rather than too sweet).

 

[david_42]

Really should have re-hydrated the yeast in water first. Makes a big difference.

Also, 1.028 is reasonable if you started around 1.100

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

But the real question is what was the exact recipe and OG...1.028 might not be that ungodly high, especially since you say it tastes good (rather than too sweet).

yeah, 1.028 is right in the ballpark for a RIS. you don't want a beer like that to finish up too low, it'll taste bad. also, yeah, it a big beer like that a pack of dry will just get drunk and fall to the bottom. either repitch rehydrated yeast or a starter at high krausen.

 

[brewbydesign]

Hey all-

Thanks for the great feedback. To answer OG question: 1.076, so an attenuation of .631 if I did the math right. I tested the SG tonight and it was the same at 1.028. The taste was a bit more sour which I hope is just from the addition of the yeast packet. My original yeast packet was a WYeast pack not sure which as I forgot to write it down, it wasn't anything abnormal.

So the consensus seems to say add more yeast, only this time re-hydrate, or can I add a WYeast?

Will I suffer any off flavors from my overuse of yeast?

Thanks you guys are the best!

- bartender pour that man a beer

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

So the consensus seems to say add more yeast, only this time re-hydrate, or can I add a WYeast?

Will I suffer any off flavors from my overuse of yeast?
r

for a beer like that, you want to make a starter, especially for a repitch. but you should make a starter any time you use liquid, especially in bigger beers.
what i would do is pitch a starter at high krausen so they're already going when they hit the high alcohol environment.

you can get yeasty flavors from pitching too much yeast, but with a beer like a RIS, i wouldn't worry about that.
again, at 1.028, your RIS may very well be done. the projected FG for the RIS i brewed last thursday is 1.024. many recipes i looked at had FG's in the high 20's low 30's. the BJCP guidelines list the FG range for imperial stout from 1.018-1.03.

 

[brewbydesign]

Hmm...well it does taste great already, maybe I should go ahead and bottle before screwing it up!

Thanks!

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

Hmm...well it does taste great already, maybe I should go ahead and bottle before screwing it up!

Thanks!

you're not gonna screw it up... let it sit and make sure the FG is stable before bottling. with big beers like that, those last few points can take awhile to drop. my plan with my RIS is to keep it in primary for a few weeks after FG is stable, then reck to secondary for bulk aging. i don't plan on bottling until august. big beers like that benefit from some age, and IMO, bulk aging is the way to go.

 

[brewbydesign]

you're not gonna screw it up... let it sit and make sure the FG is stable before bottling. with big beers like that, those last few points can take awhile to drop. my plan with my RIS is to keep it in primary for a few weeks after FG is stable, then reck to secondary for bulk aging. i don't plan on bottling until august. big beers like that benefit from some age, and IMO, bulk aging is the way to go.

Thanks for the encouragement on not screwing it up. Its been sitting for 7weeks in Secondary and has gone from 1.030 to 1.028 in that time. So I think I will leave it awhile longer 2 weeks to a month and test it then and go to bottle. Its got a great French oak flavor now with the chips in it. Any thoughts on adding some bourbon to part of the batch? or is it it too late for that?

Cheers

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

Thanks for the encouragement on not screwing it up. Its been sitting for 7weeks in Secondary and has gone from 1.030 to 1.028 in that time. So I think I will leave it awhile longer 2 weeks to a month and test it then and go to bottle. Its got a great French oak flavor now with the chips in it. Any thoughts on adding some bourbon to part of the batch? or is it it too late for that?

Cheers

not at all, you can add bourbon at bottling time, or in secondary. i prefer to do it at bottling time, that way it's easy to add a little bit at a time. you want to add it to taste, so adding a little, tasting and assessing if you need more is the way to go, IMO.