Should I go for it? - (pitching a weak starter)

[ethangray19]

Long story short:

1. ordered wyeast belgian wit yeast and it traveled during a hot spell in CA.
2. when ready to brew, smacked the pack and 1.5 days later no swelling
3. when i shook the smack pack and put my ear to it I could fizzing which then died down pretty quickly
4. made a starter and no activity for 24 hrs.
5. when I swirl the flask around i defintely get bubbles
6. put the flask on a stir plate and it seems to be making bubbles, but not tons, and the color of the wort/starter has lightened up.


NOW:

I am weary the the yeast is just not super healthy, should my strater have krausen and look like beer fermenting??


Should I brew and pitch this yeast????????????????????

thanks:rockin:

 

[ethangray19]

i also made a starter with dme but the belgianwit i plan on making uses wheat lme only, is this OK???

thanks

 

[tdavisii]

I personally think your yeast is probably dead. There should be some sort of krausen on your starter. Second question is yes. Dme and lme are basically the same thing. concentrated wort, one is liquid and one is dry. Either way its the same old thing.

 

[ethangray19]

if it is dead will it still bubble a little and change the color of the wort from dark brown to ligh brown???

 

[eddie]

if it is dead will it still bubble a little and change the color of the wort from dark brown to ligh brown???

Probably not. The wort color changes to a light tan color as the yeast reaches saturation. In this case, I believe the yeast may have been pushed to the brink but enough survived to make a come-back. I'd go ahead and use it and keep a pack of dry as a back-up.

*edit*

I meant to add that the wort should hardly bubble at all on a stir-plate. I've made nearly two dozen starters using a stir-plate and I've never had one even form a krausen.

 

[fat x nub]

dont do it...if the starter has no krausen its not a good idea

 

[ArcaneXor]

My last two yeast starters (shipped between Texas and Florida, transit time from being boxed at AHS to my fridge = 72 hours) were so beat up from the trip, it took three days to get going. It's a tough season for shipping liquid yeasts! Give it a couple more days to revive, otherwise use a dry yeast or take your chances with another vial/smack pack of liquid yeast.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Instead of pitching it as is, let it settle, decant the clear starter beer off the top, and add some fresh starter wort. Give it another spin on the stir plate.

 

[Blender]

Instead of pitching it as is, let it settle, decant the clear starter beer off the top, and add some fresh starter wort. Give it another spin on the stir plate.

I would agree and try to build up the yeast count. Where does one get dry Belgian Wit yeast?

 

[ArcaneXor]

Where does one get dry Belgian Wit yeast?

Most homebrew stores should have, or be able to order, Brewferm Blanche, though I am not sure how good it is.

 

[ethangray19]

update on myh slow starter.

it still looks like things are happening but it just has not gone crazy.

I let it sit off the stir plate and I can see very small bubbles rising to the top; also once and a while little white chunks of what I guess is yeast floating to the top, hanging out and then falling back down. Tonight will be 72 hrs since I made the starter.


Should I use it?

Let it settle and take off the top leaving behind the bottom yeast and then give it more DME?

Or just toss it and use the new wyeast I have on the way arriving thursday??

After all this care and concern for this yeast I want to use it, but dont want to be sorry once I pitch it into 5 gallons o Beer.

Any opinions or advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[oms1981]

I'm in basically the same boat. I used a smack pack yesterday and it didn't expand at all in about 4 hours. I probably should have waited longer, but I had to go to work and I really wanted my starter going for this evenings brewing. After 4 hours I made my starter and went to work. Now it is about 30 hours later and it's not doing a damn thing. I'm disappointed. I really wanted to brew today, but the beer I'm making is extremely heavy and all the ingredients cost me a lot so I want to be sure the yeast is really cruisin before I pitch it. I'm gonna be real hard pressed to do any brewing in the next 2 days with my schedule Almost thinking about going over to the LHBS and getting dry yeast. I hate worrying about this.