Starter, no krausen (WLP019)

SteveH · Oct 14, 2019

I made a starter on Friday (1.5l of 1.040 ish) with a slightly out of date vial of WLP019 (California IV Ale Yeast), it's a strain I've not used before, and there's little information about it on the White Labs Website

I left it on the stir plate over the weekend, and expected to see some krausen develop but there wasn't any at all.

If starting the stir plate after stopping for a while there was evidence of Co2 (foam which quickly dissapates), and now after leaving to settle there is definitely some yeast on the bottom of the flask.

Is this just a "bottom fermenting" strain, or should I be worried and avoid using in a batch?

Not yet measured the gravity of the starter supernatant but I guess that should be the next step to prove if it worked.

MyQul · Oct 14, 2019

Not used that strain but I think you've hit it on the nose. Testing the gravity will be the way to tell

cushyno · Oct 14, 2019

Similar experience here with Wyeast 3068. Trying to revive it from a long 10 month slumber. Ordinarily a vigorous yeast, this bottom cropped sample struggled even in 500ml of 1.025 SG wort. Eventually got down to 1.015, and now continues to struggle in a litre of 1.030 wort. No krausen at all.

You may have a less than viable vial.

I think I'll ditch mine as it's been struggling for a week. I need to put it out of its misery.

SteveH · Oct 15, 2019

MyQul said:
Not used that strain but I think you've hit it on the nose. Testing the gravity will be the way to tell

Well just measured it and it's about 1.010 so I guess it's worked despite the lack of krausen - going to pitch it into a batch tomorrow and hope for the best!

MyQul · Oct 15, 2019

Sounds like it should be fine athumb..

SteveH · Oct 18, 2019

Well I pitched it on Wednesday night and by Thursday lunchtime it was bubbling steadily, today I can see there's krausen in the FV so hopefully all will be fine.

Still unsure why there was none in the starter tho, maybe I should have done a multi-step starter given the yeast was past its best, but hopefully will turn out OK since it looks pretty active now.