Scavenged yeast

[robinmo]

I scavenged se yeast from a Belgian triple. I ad libbed a little and used less malt than recommended. There was a small yeast cake on the bottom, but I pitched it on the fourth day. There is no fermentation so far ;day two. Does the yeast take a while to activate or was four days too long to wait?daystoo long to wait?

 

[BBL_Brewer]

Just so I'm clear on this, you harvested yeast from a batch of beer that had been fermenting for 4 days and 2 days after pitching said yeast there was no activity?

 

[mscg4u]

No I think he had a yeast cake that sat for 4 days in the bucket/carboy, and then pitched on top of it, 2 days no activity... Did you leave a layer of beer on the cake to keep it moist? Have you tried rousing it via shaking or stirring?

 

[robinmo]

Sorry the post was a bit confusing. I scavenged yeast from a fresh bottle of belgian triple. I cooked up a dry malt and water mix in an earlenmeyer flask, added the yeast after it had cooled to room temp. They say you're only supposed to wait a max of three days before you pitch into the cooled wort but i didn't brew the beer till the fourth day after scavenging the yeast. I pitched it anyway thinking the yeast would probably not be dead and continue fermenting, but two days later there was no activity. Sorry about the typos have been using iphone and it only lets you see part of the post.

 

[thughes]

Was there activity with the starter in the flask before you pitched it? Or are you saying that even though the starter had not taken off you pitched it anyway and are now wondering why your wort isn't fermenting? Getting a starter to take-off and build from some bottle dregs can takes many days. I just harvested some Matilda dregs and the starter took 4 days before I saw any activity, didn't finish up for another 3 days.

 

[robinmo]

This is only my third batch. I waited till there were some bubbles in the starter which I assumed was gas from fermentation. In my previous batches this along with the small white cake of what I assumed to be yeast is what I pitched into the wort. I had gotten pretty vigorous fermentation in both previous batches. I was worried I had not used enough dry malt in the starter to build up enough yeast.?

 

[robinmo]

It is fermenting. I got some action today in the airlock and lifted the lid to find a lot of foam. I think the starter just took longer because I didn't give it enough nutrients for the yeast to consume. Thanks.

 

[Calder]

1) Getting yeast to work from a bottle can take a week or more. It is old, tired, in bad shape, and probably not too much there.

2) You need to step up yeast a few times after growing from a bottle to get a decent amount for a batch. There are so few cells in a bottle.

Good luck, sounds like it is working. I think you under-pitched, a a potential risk from that is a stalled ferment. Hope it goes well for you.

 

[robinmo]

I think I may have a stalled fermentation. The airlock was going for a couple of days and then it stopped. We had a couple of really cold nights; would that effect the fermentation? I also noticed the lid was not on all the way. I put it back on but there is still no fermentation.

 

[kingwood-kid]

Sometimes fermentation is almost done after 2-3 days. You can check the gravity to see if you are stalled or are nearing completion. As Revvy would tell us, the airlock is meaningless; your hydrometer is everything. The cold could slow the yeast down quite a bit. If it's back at the right temp, a gentle swirl to get the yeast back in solution will usually fix things.

 

[robinmo]

Thanks, I broke my hydrometer but just got a refractometer I'll try that.

 

[Calder]

Thanks, I broke my hydrometer but just got a refractometer I'll try that.

Remember to adjust for the alcohol.

 

[robinmo]

Thx. I think it was the drop in temp, I swirled the bucket and turned up the heat in the basement and the airlock is going again. I will try to just wait until the brix stops dropping because I didn't take the original reading with the refractometer.