WLP530 Abbey Ale Yeast Starter long lag getting started - still viable?

[Noob_Brewer]

So I started a yeast starter of WLP 530 Abbey Ale Monday night around 10pm. The yeast I got in the mail and it was still cold and the weather along the way was also favorable. The yeast pack had a Best Buy date of feb 26 2022 and after going to yeastman.com and entered the lot number is said was manufactured on 8/30/21 so it was a tad over 2months old. I am not sure if: 1) the starter is just lagging and will take longer than my norm (other starters take off quick) with other ale yeasts, 2) viability isn't as good as I thought on this pack, or 3) I need to just chill and relax. Upon pitching, yeast looked good visually and starter looked normal (first picture at pitching Monday night). Second pick was about 2pm yesterday (~16hrs post pitch) and was visibly darker, and a tiny bit of froth but nothing saying to me its working. Third pic was 8am this morning (~34hrs post pitch) and its gotten a good bit lighter and seeing more froth, but again was expecting a big Krausen at this point. last pic is at 2pm today (~40hrs post pitch), it has heated up a bit and froth still similar thickness as the am. So because all my other starters seem to go through these steps much quicker and I haven't seen a typical big krausen like I normally do and it has taken this long, Im questioning whether I should use this. I was planning on brewing Friday so I have a little time here but not sure if Im just being paranoid as well. Seems to be headed in the right direction but its taken its sweet ass time too. Thoughts are appreciated.

 

[lumpher]

It may take a little extra time to get started, but judging by the starter, it'll do it's thing. Just give it a day or so extra to kick in.

 

[hamachi]

I have never made a starter with it, though in my (limited) experience with WLP530, it does have a long lag. But once it goes, it really goes, with a huge krausen.

 

[Noob_Brewer]

Thanks for the input. Yeah the creaminess and color is looking pretty good but the lil baby Krausen just gets sucked down into the vortex and no big Krausen as of yet. Every other yeast Ive used gets a big starter Krausen but not this one which is perplexing me.

 

[DuncB]

Difficult to see what temp the starters at get it to about 24 will help, but it goes like crazy once you get it in a brew. You could build/boost the starter again with some more malt and water so that a double your current volume is at 1040

 

[Noob_Brewer]

Difficult to see what temp the starters at get it to about 24 will help, but it goes like crazy once you get it in a brew. You could build/boost the starter again with some more malt and water so that a double your current volume is at 1040

Not sure if you mean 24C here but that corresponds to about 75F, based on the strip on the flask (which doesn't show well in the pics), its at 76 now. I pitched it at 68. The temp really didn't start to increase until earlier today at about 36-40hrs post pitch. Not sure what you mean by "double your current volume is at 1040." This is a 5L flask and I am actually overbuilding it so that I can harvest some prior to crashing it. Its at 2.5L now pre-harvest.

 

[madscientist451]

I think this is a situation where you need to stop worrying, relax and have a homebrew.

 

[DuncB]

Seems that it's doing its' thing perfectly temp gone up and colour change so no need to worry at all.
When I'm worried that the yeast might not have a lot of good cells I start it small say 500ml and 1020 and then once it's going add more wort of higher gravity so that the total volume is at 1040. I use the dilution calculator on brewers friend ( I think ) or just work it out as a scale. You'll be fine though I'm sure.

 

[Noob_Brewer]

Thanks for the input as always. I just freaked out a bit when it lagged and then again when it didn't have the big Krausen I was expecting. All other signs as of right now look good though. And now I am taking @madscientist451 advice by having a Homebrew. Cheers!

 

[Komodo]

Is that a heater or a stirplate?
Here is a WLP530 done on a stirplate with 1.6L in a 2L flask, no temp control just freerise. I put the stirplate inside a kettle when I make them because 530 likes to ‘splode. This was mostly done in 2-3 days.

EDIT: it does look like you are stirring. My stirplate is homemade and I don't have super granular control, so it's pretty turbulent and actually has a vortex going the whole time. I've got this thin line of getting the stir bar going, or throwing it off. This probably shoots a good dose of O2 in it?

 

[Noob_Brewer]

It’s in a stir plate, not a heater. The heat rising was solely due to the starter itself as I didn’t change the ambient temps in room (69F) nor did I change the speed of the stir plate. It heated to 76 on its own. Your experience was exactly what I was expecting but the “exploding krausen” like you have never occurred. I did see krausen but more like a “baby” krausen. Perhaps though that my 5L flask was only 50% full compared to 80% of yours is a potential reason why your krausen appeared bigger. Not sure. But all other signs for my starter points in the positive direction: it has turned creamy/pillowy/light colored. Observed the temp rise yesterday to 76, etc.