white lab yeast never started fermentation?

[MontanaBob]

Hi. I have only been brewing for six months - about 10 batches. I have always used Nottingham or Windsor dry yeast and the fermentation was always very active in less than 24 hours. I decided to try a liquid yeast (white lab California Ale 001) for the first time. Received it in the mail from AHS on Wednesday and immediately refrigerated it. Set it out at room temp (72) on Saturday for about 10 hours prior to pitching directly into 5 gallons of 77 degree wort with an og of 1.050. It has been 48 hours and zero activity. I am leaving Wednesday morning for 4 days. If nothing by then should I re-pitch or wait till I get back and re-pitch? Thanks for your advice.

 

[akryder]

I'd recommend that you take a gravity reading (if you haven't already). That's the only true way to tell if you're fermentation has started or finished. If you're gravity has dropped, you're fermenting. If you have the option, I wouldn't check until at least 72 hours has passed, though. Sometimes the yeast are slower to start then we would like.

If it hasn't dropped after 72 hours, then I would probably consider re-pitching, but someone more experienced may have a better idea on that.

 

[dttk0009]

Agreed with arkryder. Go on your 4 day vacation, come back and take a reading. If you pitched the vial without making a starter there is going to be some lag for the yeast start up. Also, did you oxygenate your wort properly before pitching? There's significantly less yeast cells in a liquid yeast vial than in a dry yeast package.

For the most part though, RDWAHAHB. Check gravity after you get back and let us know how it's looking.

 

[kapbrew13]

Starter? Always a good practice.

 

[Revvy]

The only activity that matters is a gravity reading. And as the sticky at the top of the beginners section states, fermentation can take up to 72 hours to start. Since you didn't make a starter, that's more than likely going to be the scenario, since you neglected to reproduce enough cells for them to do the job ahead of time, they have to do it themselves. Go on your trip, and the yeast will be fine.

 

[Pappers_]

Montana, it sounds like you did things right, with the exception of making a starter (which is a good practice but not required when using liquid yeast.).

As mentioned above, it's not unusual for the yeast to be working at multiplying for a few days before kicking off active fermentation, that you can see the signs of (krausen, etc).

It's also possible at this hot time of year, with yeast shipped from Texas, that the yeast got too hot and were killed. You might remember if the ice pack was still cold or how warm the package was.

So, it's likely your yeast is just slow and gathering strength. But it is possible that they were damaged or killed by heat during shipping. If it were me, before leaving town, I'd take a hydrometer reading and if there is no fermentation activity, I'd pitch some dry yeast.

 

[Gunfighter04]

I found white labs california ale yeast to be a very slow steady fermentor. I have a bucket that has a very good seal, along with a airlock and decent seal (still not a good indication of fermentation BTW). WLP001 would only bubble once every 30 seconds or so, but it continued for nearly 2 weeks. If I remember correctly it also took quite a while before there was any indication of activity.

Every yeast is different from growth to fermentation characteristics to fall out. Sometimes those differences are pretty drastic. As been said, don't go by what you see or hear, only by what your Hydrometer says.

 

[jfowler1]

Received it in the mail from AHS on Wednesday and immediately refrigerated it. Set it out at room temp (72) on Saturday for about 10 hours prior to pitching directly into 5 gallons of 77 degree wort with an og of 1.050.

Liquid yeast is a wonderful product. However, it really requires some special handling for you to realize that quality.

The first consideration is pitching rate. I plugged 5.25 Gallons @ 1.050 OG into Mr Malty's Calculator, and assumed the yeast is fresh off the production line. Under those guidelines, the calculator suggests 2 vials (wihout a starter). So right off the bat, even if the yeast you received was at 97% viability (which if shipped from a supplier in the summer - it wasn't), you only pitched 1/2 the amount of yeast this beer required.

The second consideration is aeration/oxygenation. I have a long thread somewhere about underestimating the role of oxygen in your beer. Over a couple hundered exchanges on that thread, I kind of came to the concensus that oxygenation PPM is imperative for liquid yeast, where as it is slightly less important when using dry yeast. I am only comfortable saying that because I made about 12 batches with appropriate sized pitches and no oxygen, with less than stellar results. Once I added oxygen to the regiment, the quality of the finished beer improved 10 fold.

In summary, liquid yeast is a very high quality product, but requires some advanced techniques in order for its quality to translate to your finished beer. If the manufacturers told you that right off the bat, it would cause people to shy away from using it in favor of the much more user friendly dry yeast.

Joe

 

[MontanaBob]

First off, thanks for all the great advice. I'll take some gravity readings when I get back and decide on the next step. However, even though there is no airlock movement I am detecting with my nose a slight "fermenting" odor on top of the airlock and peeking through the bucket grommet hole there are small bubbles on top - so maybe it's just starting out slow. Again thanks to all, I will post results in 5 days. P.S I have a 400 mile drive to the fishing hole, so maybe I'll take the time to read up on properly starting liquid yeast......

 

[MontanaBob]

Well it's been 72 hours since I pitched.... and.... ahem..... the airlock started bubbling........

You guys are definitely the experts. Thanks again. And I'll have RDWAHAHB stenciled to my fermenter!

 

[Pappers_]

Well it's been 72 hours since I pitched.... and.... ahem..... the airlock started bubbling........

Woooooot!

 

[Scruffy1207]

Well it's been 72 hours since I pitched.... and.... ahem..... the airlock started bubbling........

You guys are definitely the experts. Thanks again. And I'll have RDWAHAHB stenciled to my fermenter!

Never fear, have a beer!