bum yeast :(

[GillettBreweryCnslt]

Well, its been 24 hours since i started my belgium witbier and there isnt any yeast activity. It did get a little cold in the house last night but not cold enough to kill off the yeast (15C). I'm going to wait till tomorrow morning and if there's no activity I'll re-inoculate. I'd do it now but I have to head to the store to get the witbier yeast. Luckily I use a primary with a o-ring seal and an air-lock, so I'm only minorly concerned about contamination.

/rant.

Dave

[mr x]

How are you determining 'no activity'? Don't go by just the airlock on a bucket. That's a notorious situation for airleaks. 15C is a bit cold, but it won't kill the yeast, it will just slow it down until it warms back up.

[GillettBreweryCnslt]

Well, there's more to the story then I mentioned....

I used the liquid yeast smack pack. After 3 hours the pack had not swelled (or is it swollen?) very much, if at all. I decided to toss it in anyway, it was late and I didnt have a second pack.

This morning before I left I pushed on the top of the primary to release all of the built up pressure in the airlock (there was pressure in the airlock). When I came home after work there was no pressure at all in the lock.

Finally I took a super-quick peak at the brew, not a bubble or trace of foam.

I did throw a heat belt on the primary when I got home, thinking that the cold slowed down the process to a crawl.

I'm hoping tomorrow morn the primary will be bubbling!

[mr x]

If that yeast was fairly fresh, I think it's probably alright. You can pitch without smacking. All that's in there is some nutrients that gets released, but it's not critical to do that before pitching. It's just good for warm fuzzies. If you had pressure on the lid, I'd say you're probably OK and just need to get the temp up. From wYeast:

3. Does the package need to be fully swollen before pitching?

No, The package can be pitched before activating, or at anytime during the activation process. The activation process "jump starts" the culture's metabolism, minimizing the lag phase.

http://www.wyeastlab.com/faqs.cfm?website=1#r48

[GillettBreweryCnslt]

Sounds good, I'll give it a day or two and work on my patience.

Cheers

[mr x]

Anytime that I didn't see activity on an airlock when I thought that there should have been, I put my ear against the bucket to listen for action.

[GillettBreweryCnslt]

Well, it seems that patience is a virtue. After 3.5 days (84 hours if you're counting). The yeast finally broke through lag phase and the brew is bubbling away. Smells good too, like the forbidden fruit should

Now I'm excited about this batch.

Time to start planning the next one!