Slow start

[moonmandave]

I brewed a Belgian wit the other day, I pitched yeast (Wyeast 3944) at exactly 70 degrees F. My fermentation room (just an extra room I leave much cooler) got waaaay cold that night, and when I woke up, I was pretty disappointed to see that I had absolutely zero action in my fermenter. I warmed up my room, and my yeast didn't start working until about 26 hours into fermentation. Once going, it did build a very healthy krausen which I needed to blow-off. Am I going to end up with a lot of DMS flavors from about the first 26 hours of dormant yeast time?

 

[thadass]

Lag time between chilling the wort/pitching yeast and actual fermentation starting will have zero effect on DMS in the final product.

From How to Brew:

Dimethyl Sulfides (DMS)/ Cooked Vegetable Flavors
Like diacetyl in ales, DMS is common in many light lagers and is considered to be part of the character. DMS is produced in the wort during the boil by the reduction of another compound, S-methyl-methionine (SMM), which is itself produced during malting. When a malt is roasted or toasted, the SMM is reduced beforehand and does not manifest as DMS in the wort, which explains why it is more prevalent in pale lagers. In other styles, DMS is a common off-flavor, and can be caused by poor brewing practices or bacterial infections.

DMS is continuously produced in the wort while it is hot and is usually removed by vaporization during the boil. If the wort is cooled slowly these compounds will not be removed from the wort and will dissolve back in. Thus it is important to not completely cover the brewpot during the boil or allow condensate to drip back into the pot from the lid. The wort should also be cooled quickly after the boil, either by immersing in an ice bath or using a wort chiller.

Once the wort is chilled, your time for interacting with DMS (other than the very off-chance of it being introduced by an infection) is far gone.


Many of us with perfect fermentation temperatures still don't see any activity for 2 or 3 days sometimes. It's not a big deal.

 

[moonmandave]

What a relief! Brewing from Japan ain't cheap when you factor in shipping costs. I was worried that having to dump this would have put me into a terrible, spiraling depression. Thanks for the good news!