Starter Woes

[jamesrm]

Alright, so I am perplexed, I boiled 4l of wart (Used Amber DME, got SG to about 10 brix or so, added nutrient, and used an ice bath to cool to 70 degrees. Divided into 4 sterile beakers, 2 1l and 1 2l, and added 3 wyeast smack packs. The two smack packs that had been allowed to rise to full size overnight produced no krausen or any action at all in a week, while the pack I warmed to 70 in water and pitched with the nutrient pack in the beaker had a krausen in days. Swirled each beaker several times a day, they were covered with loose tin foil. Still sitting in my tub about 2 weeks old now, any ideas why the first 2 didnt take off? They were all using the same wort.

 

[Jamo99]

With starters you sometimes don't see much activity. Take a gravity reading to be sure that they are duds. It would be odd that you got two bad packs. My guess is that they fermented out without you noticing.

 

[jamesrm]

If that is the case, is the yeast good to pitch or should I add more wort to the cake?