Yeast not working

[Torshon]

Hi everyone, made a harvey's clone on Friday and put in the smack pack from the fridge but nothings happened, will the wort be safe until a new smack pack arrives in the post?
Thanks in advance

 

[terrym]

All the time the wort remains without yeast working on it it is vulnerable to an unwanted 'infection'. So the longer it sits there the bigger the risk. You might get away with waiting you might not. Although you will more than likely be OK, its really your choice in the end. Personally I would be thinking about another yeast. If you have no suitable yeast in your store to pitch soon are you near a Wilko, their ale yeast is supposed to be a Nottingham type.

 

[Ben034]

Hi everyone, made a harvey's clone on Friday and put in the smack pack from the fridge but nothings happened, will the wort be safe until a new smack pack arrives in the post?
Thanks in advance

When you say nothing has happened, what do you mean? If you look at the top of the wort is there any activity at all?

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I use Fermentis yeast do not store in fridge and it starts fermentation in hours and finishes in 3 or 4 days.

 

[Torshon]

When you say nothing has happened, what do you mean? If you look at the top of the wort is there any activity at all?

No nothing I took the wyeast from the fridge and smacked and pored into the wort on Saturday morning 24 hrs later still no activity

 

[Torshon]

I use Fermentis yeast do not store in fridge and it starts fermentation in hours and finishes in 3 or 4 days.

I normally use dry yeast and have never had a problem. This is the first time using wyeast as its the right yeast (ish) for harvey's, I have west coast and so5 but don't want to change the flavour

 

[PhilBrew]

Hi Torshon

Which wyeast yeast is it and how old/near to its "Use By" date was it?
I ask because if you're more specific, some on here may have experience with that strain ... some yeast strains are known for being slow at starting ... and if your pack was an older one, then there will not have been as many viable yeast cells left, by the time you pitched

Either way, if there's still no activity by now, since sometime Friday ... it may well be getting time to pitch some more yeast later today (tomorrow morning at the latest), I'd choose the S04, personally, but ultimately it's your call ("you are the head brewer, in your home brewery") ... the wyeast yeast you pitched may well still be doing enough to influence the flavour, just not enough to properly "colonise" your brew (to stop other yeast/bacteria getting at it) and to fully ferment it ... but save the brew and make beer first and foremost

Cheers, PhilB

 

[Torshon]

Thanks for answering it was bought last week and is wyeast 1099, probably my fault as the yeast was ice packed and I forgot to unpack (24hrs) it the ice pack was melted but not totally warm and I put the pack in the fridge straight away. The brew was made Friday finished about 5pm and pitched yeast at 9am.i have ordered another pack from brew UK assume it'll be here Tuesday at latest is that playing with fire?

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Just posted on my brew thread about ditching 30 bottles that I brewed in May, I had exactly the same problem, yeast didn't work (probably my fault) waited 3 days before pitching some dry yeast, on bottling the taste was TCP, hoped it would go but it didn't and ditched the lot this afternoon. Bottles were gushers. I would carry on but perhaps when you come to bottle/keg give it a taste and see.

 

[Torshon]

Wow yeast finely kicked in 36 hrs after pitching, just checked foamy head just starting
Thanks for everyone's help

 

[Torshon]

Just posted on my brew thread about ditching 30 bottles that I brewed in May, I had exactly the same problem, yeast didn't work (probably my fault) waited 3 days before pitching some dry yeast, on bottling the taste was TCP, hoped it would go but it didn't and ditched the lot this afternoon. Bottles were gushers. I would carry on but perhaps when you come to bottle/keg give it a taste and see.

I think I'll do that anyway now, is it okay to pitch another one on top if this one's just getting started? As I ordered another from brew UK? I reckon a lot of yeast cells died when it got to warm

 

[PhilBrew]

Hi Torshon

Good to know that it's got going

... but now that it has got going, I doubt there'd be any great benefit in adding more yeast ... save that for in case those yeast that have got going for a while now, start to give up early

... and while the stress of having yeast not start a ferment in good time is fresh in your mind ... start researching how to make a starter. While a wyeast smack pack should have enough yeast cells in it to get going quickly, as you just found out, the number can drop rapidly when not stored correctly ... so making a starter is a good way to be sure you have enough yeast to ferment your wort.
It needn't require any fancy equipment, see the approach I was describing to Rod over there (link).

Cheers, PhilB

 

[Torshon]

Hi Torshon

Good to know that it's got going

... but now that it has got going, I doubt there'd be any great benefit in adding more yeast ... save that for in case those yeast that have got going for a while now, start to give up early

... and while the stress of having yeast not start a ferment in good time is fresh in your mind ... start researching how to make a starter. While a wyeast smack pack should have enough yeast cells in it to get going quickly, as you just found out, the number can drop rapidly when not stored correctly ... so making a starter is a good way to be sure you have enough yeast to ferment your wort.
It needn't require any fancy equipment, see the approach I was describing to Rod over there (link).

Cheers, PhilB

Cheers Phil

 

[the_quick]

I know it started working, but did you take the pack out of a fridge, to warm up before smacking it?

 

[Torshon]

I know it started working, but did you take the pack out of a fridge, to warm up before smacking it?

Erm, yeah I might have forgotten to warm it up I read the back and don't remember that bit , bit embarrassing really.......
Only really used dry yeast before......
I'll go stand in the corner, pass the hat.....

 

[GerritT]

Advantage of dry yeast: it works, it works quickly, and it's so cheap you'd buy two, to have a backup.

 

[An Ankoù]

Wow yeast finely kicked in 36 hrs after pitching, just checked foamy head just starting
Thanks for everyone's help

Ho Torshon. Glad your yeast finally kicked in. Your beer should be fine now. Don't put another pack on top of it.
For future reference, Wyeast recommend you smack the pack some days before you brew and leave it in a warmish place for the yeast numbers to grow. The pack will inflate. They do say that if you're impatient you can pitch straight away, but then you have the extended lag time you've just experienced.

 

[Torshon]

Merci beaucoup, (that's the French lessons covered)
Thanks for that should have had more faith, maybe I'll look into starters and freezing yeast as well, I have a spare freezer...

 

[An Ankoù]

Merci beaucoup, (that's the French lessons covered)
Thanks for that should have had more faith, maybe I'll look into starters and freezing yeast as well, I have a spare freezer...

Je vous en prie.
I'm not sure that freezing is straightforward as you have to take measures to ensure the integrity of the cell walls at the point of freezing. I think glycerine is used for this. Chris White in collaboration with another author (whose name escapes me) has written a book called "Yeast- a Practical Guide" which is excellent and not expensive.

 

[Torshon]

I can get glycerin, it's not expensive and means I can have a small library of yeasts available........
I'll look up that book
many thank