Yeast Lag time - WL005 British Ale Yeast

[Terry_R]

Hi. I pitched WLP005 British Ale Yeast pack into well oxygenated Pale Ale (OG 1045) 20 hours ago. Temp at constant 70F. No Krausen or any other signs of fermentation yet. Is this lag time normal for this yeast? This is just my third batch and I'm a bit paranoid as my second batch failed during fermentation and I had to dump it

 

[AdeDunn]

Did you make a yeast starter at all? Or just tip the yeast directly into the wort?

 

[Terry_R]

Dumped it straight in.... WL web site says should fine without a starter up to OG 1050

 

[foxbat]

This should put your mind at rest. By not making a starter you've just lengthened your fermentation timeline.

 

[AdeDunn]

Hmmm, not always a good idea to take manufacturer statements at face value. Sure, a totally freshly made batch would probably be fine, but once it's been shipped to the UK and sat in a warehouse/shop for a while it's not quite as fresh, cell counts drop. Making a starter allows you to boost the cell count back up to where you need it, and to check the the yeast is still viable before you use it on your wort, and if it isn't you can rehydrate and pitch some dried yeast instead.

This is the advice given on pretty much all fora, blogs and brewing books as best practice to be honest.

 

[Ken L]

Having lost a brew last year for the first time ever, I now use starters wherever possible.
Lag is however normal and not an indicator of inactivity. The yeasties are busily reproducing and converting sugar for energy aerobically until they run out of oxygen and start the much less efficient (but desirable) process of converting sugar for energy anaerobically - with carbon dioxide and alcohol as bye-products.
The use of a starter ensures that the yeasties going in are alive, reproducing and active and as those active yeasties use up the available oxygen quicker, you get a shorter brew time.
In my case, I had a dead yeast packet and by the time I twigged what was going on, a bacterial infection had overtaken the brew.

 

[dad_of_jon]

Hmmm, not always a good idea to take manufacturer statements at face value. Sure, a totally freshly made batch would probably be fine, but once it's been shipped to the UK and sat in a warehouse/shop for a while it's not quite as fresh, cell counts drop. Making a starter allows you to boost the cell count back up to where you need it, and to check the the yeast is still viable before you use it on your wort, and if it isn't you can rehydrate and pitch some dried yeast instead.

This is the advice given on pretty much all fora, blogs and brewing books as best practice to be honest.

It's the marketing departments advice vs the technical departments advice. :headbang:Marketing departments don't want to introduce extra steps or complexities that may deter sales. Technical departments want the product to work as well as possible. The irony is with the Marketing department statements that beer can be ready quicker or easier by not following some steps. This can lead the brewer not to repeat purchase something because the end product turns out below par...

e.g. just sprinkle on top of wort = easy
rehydrate in 110 ml of boiled water cooled down to 30-35 = not as easy.

if jo public saw two yeasts for sale at the same price and one said 'just sprinkle' and the other did not which do you think they would choose?

Of course more experienced brewers can spot the corporate bulls**t but newcomers to brewing may need a litte help to weed it out.

 

[Terry_R]

This should put your mind at rest. By not making a starter you've just lengthened your fermentation timeline.

Good article, thanks.

 

[Terry_R]

Panic over. 36 hours in and it's going bananas!

 

[foxbat]

Panic over. 36 hours in and it's going bananas!

Good news. With a starting gravity of 1.045 you're probably looking at 2 days of strong activity then it'll die down fast. If you take a gravity reading at 5 days you'll probably find it's already 1 or 2 points off your target FG. If you can cold crash for a week after 2 weeks at 20-22C then you should be packaging almost clear beer with that yeast.