Yeast Starter

[mdd134]

How long should I wait for my yeast started to start? This is my first starter, and first liquid yeast. I am using White Labs American Lager in a 1L starter with 3oz of light DME and ½ teaspoon of furmax with 3 cups of water. I started it 36 hours ago and nothing, no small bubbles, no noise of bubbles.

 

[TheJadedDog]

You will probably not see any activity in your starter. You may get a slight ring of krausen but that's usually it (some people get really active starters but I never have).

I typically make my starters 36 - 48 hours before brewing (usually Thurs. night for a Sat. brew) so I'd be willing to bet it is ready to be pitched.

 

[mdd134]

It has no ring, and no activity on the airlock. It also appears to have settled out, looks like the yeast has fell to the bottom and the top has cleared up

 

[brewitnow]

pardon these basic questions, but just so we all know:
1. you boiled the water before pitching to starter?
2. the water was sufficiently cooled before adding the yeast?
3. was the yeast relatively fresh/had been refrigerated?

Otherwise, it should have fired off some krausen/activity. Anyone else have ideas? You could strain off most of the liquid, boil up more H2O, repitch and aerate well. Not sure other than that, except get another vial of WL.

 

[mdd134]

1. you boiled the water before pitching to starter?
2. the water was sufficiently cooled before adding the yeast?
3. was the yeast relatively fresh/had been refrigerated?


yep,yep,yep

I started it as soon as I received it from AHB the tube was not cold nor hot when I received it.

I just didnt know how long I should wait tell I ordered another one, since this was my first liquid yeast

thanks for the help

 

[EdWort]

You may have missed it. White Labs starters have a huge amount of cells and the starter you created is relatively small for their pitchable vials. This has happened to me. Step it up to a 2 Liter starter and you will see some action.

Now if this was a Wyeast smack pack, you would be seeing some action.

 

[ajf]

Have you tried giving the starter a swirl? This is good for starters, as it gets the yeast back into suspension. If the starter is going, you should see some activity in the airlock after swirling.

-a.

 

[Llarian]

You may have missed it. White Labs starters have a huge amount of cells and the starter you created is relatively small for their pitchable vials. This has happened to me. Step it up to a 2 Liter starter and you will see some action.

Now if this was a Wyeast smack pack, you would be seeing some action.

Huh? Assuming you believe what WL and Wyeast say, the cell count of a WLP vial is 50-60 billion, and the cell count of a Wyeast activator is 100 billion. (The Wyeast propogator is obviously much lower)

I still firmly believe in starters for both of them however.

-D

 

[EdWort]

Huh? Assuming you believe what WL and Wyeast say, the cell count of a WLP vial is 50-60 billion, and the cell count of a Wyeast activator is 100 billion. (The Wyeast propogator is obviously much lower)

I still firmly believe in starters for both of them however.

-D

I just look at what's in the tube. I did a WLP029 and it fermented out between the time I went to bed and the next morning. I saw no action, but when I stepped it up, it took off. I was able to continue stepping till I was able to save 3 Corona bottles of yeast plus make my beer.

 

[Llarian]

Yeah. I usually have the same thing happen with wyeast. (the big ones, not the small ones)

The closest LHBS only carries wyeast, but it behaves pretty much exactly like WLP in my experience.

-D

 

[mdd134]

It finally started, it took 36 hours to start. Do all white labs yeast take this long? One thing that might have effected this one was the shipping in the heat.

 

[raceskier]

No, they don't or shouldn't take that long.

I've just gone throught this adventure with a couple of Wyeast smack packs from my LHBS.

A HEALTHY smack pack or tube of liquid yeast in a well prepared starter wort should, in my experience, produce a nice krausen in a few hours.

If it is taking 36 hours to produce activity, all else being equal, this would indicate to me that you have a very small number of viable yeast cells to start with.

Is it just me, or does anyone else notice that we have more of these slow or fail to start threads in the summer? I think we may be seeing an endemic lack of proper care of the liquid yeast from the time it leaves the manufacturer and the time it is used by the homebrewer. With the warm temps of summer, it doesn't take much of a glitch in shipping or handling to damage liquid yeast.

I am getting a bit frustrated with it all and see the best solution as harvesting and storing healthy yeast on slants or frozen.