Wanted for Yeast Murder: Star San

[roccobrews]

I pitched about 2/3 of a cup of wlp029 yeast slurry from my previous batch's cake into a 5gal full boil extract 1.051 APA. It's almost a full 24 hrs with no airlock activity or krausen. I'm beginning to think the measuring cup dripping with star san that I used to collect the slurry may be the culprit. I'm sure it didn't wipe out all the yeast but maybe enough for a slow start/underpitch. Any thoughts?

 

[grahamfw]

When you collected the slurry, was it done from basically just dumping the the bottom of a freshly emptied carboy?? Or some other method of yeast collection?

I highly doubt that a drippy star san cup would be the culprit. As soon as any other liquid dilutes it, it's not an effective sanitizer. The actual problem is that you likely underpitched your yeast since the best yeast for the job are in there someplace, but not necessarily the majority of the ones you pitched. Lots of dead and slow-to-reactivate yeast would be in there. Give it some more time, the yeast are building the troops. I'd give it a good swirl next time you can and have a bit more patience.

 

[Falcon3]

Definitely not. A film of StarSan on the cup would destroy maybe a few cells, but not the entire slurry. I would suspect something else is the problem. Possibly the slurry sample you took was very low viability? How old was the slurry and what conditions did you store it?

 

[jotakah]

It's almost a full 24 hrs with no airlock activity or krausen.

That is too short notice. I wouldn't say you have a problem until day 3 of that situation.

It's probably fine

Do you do anything special to oxygenate your wort, perchance?

RDWHAHB

 

[dinnerstick]

definitely not the starsan

 

[Doctor_M]

Not the Starsan... you'd need a lot of diluted or a fair amount of the concentrated Starsan in order for it to hurt the yeast. This has lots of good info about starsan and five star products http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/...Session-03-19-06-Sanitation-w/-Charlie-Talley

 

[roccobrews]

Slurry was super fresh. It was collected the same day it was pitched. I racked a Kolsch to a secondary and placed the bucket with the cake into the fridge for about 3-4 hours until APA was ready. I know 24 hrs isn't excessive but I made a 1.5 L starter with no stir plate for the Kolsch and it was cruising in under 12 hrs. I'm not sweating it yet. I collected another cup that's sitting in the fridge if needed.

 

[roccobrews]

Nothing special aeration wise. ie o2 stone. Just some good ok agitation with a paddle on a cordless drill for a couple of minutes.

 

[moreb33rplz]

I've only dumped slurry once, but I used more than a cup and it took about 2 days before i saw fermentation signs.

 

[Thedutchtouch]

why not just rack the new beer onto the old's yeast cake. cuts out the need for another fermenter, need to scoop out a cup of slurry, etc.

 

[progmac]

i have literally washed yeast with starsan and it survived.

look elsewhere for your problem

 

[Indian_villager]

Wait for it.

 

[Falcon3]

Wait for it.

...........DAIRY.......


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[roccobrews]

Washed yeast with Star San? Nice.

I figured a whole cake would be an over pitch that might overrun the headspace in my 6.5 gal bucket.

 

[BigFloyd]

Washed yeast with Star San? Nice.

I figured a whole cake would be an over pitch that might overrun the headspace in my 6.5 gal bucket.

You're right. A whole cake is most often a massive overpitch. You only need about 20-25% of the cake for a medium gravity ale (double that for a lager).

Another vote for - not the residual StarSan. Did you aerate/oxygenate the wort?

 

[brew_ny]

i have literally washed yeast with starsan and it survived.

look elsewhere for your problem

I was going to say early today I have pitched the yeast from my blow off container which had a diluted starsan mix

but did not want to stir the pot

all the best

S_M

 

[phug]

i did something similar recently but i had stored some yeast in the fridge from one cider batch to the next, and pitched the whole of what had been the yeast take. it tok 2-3 days to see visible signs of fermentation. maybe try ti get some of that yeast in suspension.

 

[roccobrews]

Quick update. It took a lil over 48 hours for fermentation to start. It's rocking now. Don't take it personal Five Star, I was just toying with possibility the Star San was the culprit. Won't be the first or last thing I was wrong about. We'll see if that 2/3 cup if slurry does. Thanks all.