Yeast acting weird, your thoughts?

[chiaroscuro]

One of my favorite beers is the Cuvee des Jonquilles, so I made a starter out of the dregs of a bottle. Someone else on HBT did the same thing and came out with good results, so I thought i would give it a try.

I made a starter with 1/4 cup of DME and two cups of water (boiled). After a couple of days, I added another 1/4 cup of DME and two cups of water. Everything looked good and yeast appeared to stay mostly in suspension.

I brewed a basic recipe with 11 lbs. of German Pilsner and Hallertau hops using a step infusion. I hit all of my numbers and temps.

I chilled the wort, transferred to my sanitized carboy, and oxygenated the wort. I tasted a small amount of the starter before pitching and it tasted great.

24 hours after pitching - No activity.
36 Hours - no activity, pulled sample to confirm with hydrometer. Roused yeast and got a terrible sulfur gas smell from gas released.
44 Hours - Tiny bit of activity, roused yeast and again sulfury gas released.
57 hours - Very small Krausen. Some activity, gas coming out of airlock smells terrible.

Just curious if anyone has some thoughts on the smell or maybe I just pitched too small amount of yeast?

I've brewed about 20 all grain batches to date and never had any problems with yeast or a heavy sulfur smell.

 

[bknifefight]

Have you ever used this yeast before? It doesnt sound like it, so you have nothing to gauge if it is acting weird or not. A 57 hour lag time for visible signs of fermentation is nothing out of the ordinary.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/fermentation-can-take-24-72-hrs-show-visible-signs-43635/

 

[tre9er]

The awful smell tells me that it's working, and should do the same for you. Sulfur is driven off during fermentation, as are a number of other nasty smells. Leave her be. Take gravity in a week. I bet it's MUCH lower.

How many ML of yeast and how thick or runny was the slurry?

 

[GinSlinger]

In my experience with harvested yeast, you waaaaaay underpitched. This explains the lag.

The stress on the yeast explains the smell.

My PacMan harvest took a little over a week to get enough to pitch for 3 gal. Lots of small steps with 1.020 starter until I got a visible layer of healthy yeast. Then a 500 ml 1.040 starter, fully fermented, crashed and decanted pitched into a liter 1.040 starter.

 

[chiaroscuro]

@bknifefight - No never used this yeast before. Point well taken.

@tre9er - Good to here, I've just never had that bad of a smell.

About a liter of slurry and it was quite thin.

 

[chiaroscuro]

@GinSlinger - Kind of what I'm guessing that I underpitched and stressed the yeast. I will step up the starter more next time.

 

[lou2row]

bottle harvesting has worked well for me, but is a week long deal. I follow close to ginslinger's method. The first pitch (50-100 mls of 1.020) can take three days to get any signs of activity. But from there the steps can be each day.
Some Belgians are pretty rough smelling when they get going. As long as you don't start to see a pellicle forming, you may be fine. The fact you tasted the starter was a good thing.

 

[chiaroscuro]

4+ Day Update - Krausen has dropped out and airlock activity has stopped. Hydrometer reading shows about 1.042.

Thoughts?

 

[Cyclman]

Taste it first, see if it's worth saving. Underpitching that much may have caused extreme off flavors. If tastes OK, repitch with new yeast.

 

[chiaroscuro]

@cyclman - It was pretty funky tasting, but more like hopped wort rather than bad.

I ended up pitching the new Belle Saison Yeast

http://www.danstaryeast.com/products/belle-saison-yeast

It took off about 8 hours later and is still going today. Pulled a sample to taste and lots of fruitiness and peaches. We'll see later this week where its at.

Needless to say, I need to up my culturing yeast from a bottle skills.