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Recently I brew a brown ale and we were using liquid yeast. We popped the yeast(ringwood) like normal and left it to sit for a few hours. Usually I give the liquid yeast some extra time to swell up after activating(around 6 hours). We came back and kept checking on the yeast and it had only puffed up a little bit. We finished brewing the beer and the yeast had still not puffed up like usual. So we shook up the yeast and made sure the activator inside was popped and left it in 21c temperature for a while longer no change. So we opened the yeast up and discovered the activator was still mostly in its pouch inside the yeast packet because when it popped only a small hole was made in the top so it stayed in the pouch.

We mixed the yeast with the activator and put it in a starilized ziplock then put it in the beer after letting it sit for a bit and swell. The beer had been sitting for about 3 days before we started to see activity. Recently I took a hydrometer reading and things were looking good so I transfered it to the carboy but today I noticed a bunch of white spots on the top of the beer that look like mold. Getting ready to dump it, I don't notice any weird smell but it looks a lot like mold.

If it tastes ok, I'd keep it!

Definitely don't be hasty to dump! try a taste, if it doesn't make you pucker, let it sit longer. i had one experience with white spots on top, but it was actually fine. don't dump without tasting unless there is a mold forest on top

Yeah, don't get too crazy on dumping it yet. You can see some weird stuff that isn't infection, but some pics would help. FWIW, I wouldn't worry about the activator pack not swelling, wyeast says it's useful but not essential.

http://www.wyeastlab.com/hb_productdeta ... oductID=16" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ok we are going to draw straws tonight to see who gets to try it.

Always found that the Ringwood smack pack took extra long to swell ...

LeafMan66_67 wrote:Always found that the Ringwood smack pack took extra long to swell ...

+1

Couldn't say without a pic. Normal fermentation can look pretty funky sometimes. Dead giveaway would be if the spots are furry. Usually an infection will take a bit of time to take hold.

LiverDance wrote:

LeafMan66_67 wrote:Always found that the Ringwood smack pack took extra long to swell ...

+1

Same here on the ringwood

LeafMan66_67 wrote:Always found that the Ringwood smack pack took extra long to swell ...

Found that out on my last brew. The smackpack hadn't fully swelled after around 9 hours. Relieved when I got krausen.

LeafMan66_67 wrote:Always found that the Ringwood smack pack took extra long to swell ...

Interesting - only used it once, but it was the slowest smack pack I've ever tried.

I always smack the ale yeasts a day before I make my starter and 2-3 days before for the lager yeasts (I find them really slow to swell).

The Irish Ale yeast is pretty slow two. I have used two and both of them took four days to swell.

I would post a picture but I only have my cell phone camera and right now its being repaired. The white spots have not multiplied any more which is a good sign.

As mentioned above, as long it's not fuzzy on top, you may be ok. Keep cold and drink fast, lol.

Things are looking better. Still have no camera to take a pic, but white spots have been replaced by little pockets of small bubbles. Kinda strange but looks better than the white blobs.

I've used ringwood before but I can't remember how long the lag time was. It sounds to me as though you got an old pack. Did you save it and/or know the production date? You may alraedy know about it, but there's a great calculator for figuring out much yeast you need to pitch based on the production date, gravity of the beer and volume of the batch. http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html
It's possible if the lag time was really so and your sanitation wasn't perfect, something wild could take over due to lack of competitive inhibition, but sounds more like under pitching at this point. I'd take a gravity reading in the next day or two and pitch some more yeast if it's barely attenuated.

No I did not save the pack for the yeast so I am not sure of the yeast date. Also I took a reading before I but it in the carboy and it looked like things were going good. The yeast seems to be doing its thing. Also I was thinking yesterday that this was the first batch I used my grain mill for. The mill had a bit of oil on it when I first got it and I tried to clean it up the best I could. Should not have been an issue but never know I guess.

Yeah doesn't sound like it has anything to do with the oil.. If you end up with low head retention that may be the cause.
When you say you took a reading before you put 'it' in the carboy, do you mean the wort in your kettle for an SG measurement? I'm talking more about taking a reading now to make sure it is fermenting out, but if you're seeing activity it should be ok - so long as your pitching rate wasn't so low that you get a stalled fermentation. But if that happens, all is not lost. Did it ever develop a good krausen or are you just going by the air lock bubbling?