Starter failure

[hopdawg]

I'm tired of wasting Wyeast activators! This is my 5th consecutive yeast starter failure. When I say failure I'm referring to a starter that does not produce a Krausen or produce a single bubble in the air lock.
Here is what I do:
I boil 2L of water and 200g of DME for 15min.
I cool it to 65F.
I shake the pizz out of it add the yeast then shake some more.
Then I wait.
Then I wait some more.
After 72hrs of waiting not a single bubble.
Yeast was 3 days old received directly from Wyeast never got above 50F.
Some one please tell me what I'm doing wrong to blow these many consecutive starters.

 

[smizak]

Ouch, hate to break it to you...

You prolly needlessly wasted those activators.

My starters seldom yield much visible activity. Except 3787, but that yeast is insane.

The yeast are mostly growing and not producing as much CO2 as a primary fermentation.

 

[ArcaneXor]

Did you check the FG of the starter? Sometimes, they ferment out within a few hours without leaving any visible evidence of fermentation.

Other thinks that'll help:

- avoid temp shocking the yeast. Warm up smack pack before smacking at room temperature, let it swell, then pitch at slightly warmer than room temp
- a little bit of yeast nutrient
- stirplate

Edit: Oh yeah - it's a STARTER - you are defeating the purpose by putting an airlock on it. Some loose-fitting foil will allow oxygen to get into the starter continuously, which is what the yeast cells need to propagate efficiently.

 

[hopdawg]

Did you check the FG of the starter? .

SG was 1.037
FG is 1.020 after 72 hours.
Wyeast Czech Pils
I guess this answers my question. It did ferment. Now the question is did I leave it too long? Should I feed it and try to double it again?

 

[WrongCoastBrewery]

The only real sign that your starter took off could just be the nice layer of yeast at the bottom of the flask. I seriously think people who try to use SG and airlock activity to gauge their starters are not looking at a starter the right way. If after 24 hours, you have a nice layer of yeast at the bottom, thats all you need to know. I have made many a starters from the Activator packs and never had a problem. I'd say you dumped good yeast. Next time, wait the 24 hrs, swirl every now and then, and then cold crash and decant. Then slurry the yeast and pitch. Good to go.

 

[Catt22]

I agree with WCB above. I've never had a smack pack fail. Same for the vials and dry yeasts. I once made a starter from a 5 year old smack pack. The pack took several days to get going, but after that it behaved normally.

Here's a tip on how to detect activity in a starter. Use a bright flashlight and look closely near the surface of the wort and you can usually see some CO2 bubbles escaping.

Yes, you can cool, decant and add more wort to step up the starter. This will increase the yield. Whether or not this is really necessary depends on the beer style, batch size etc. Within reason, more yeast is beneficial.