Yeast Problem

[mike77]

So I had a fairly faultless brew last night then dropped the ball at the last hurdle. I failed to activate my Wyeast Ringwood smack pack properly. I thought I had burst the activator properly and it seemed to puff up a little but when I poured the yeast in I noticed that the activator was still intact. I cut the activator open and poured it in as well as a teaspoon of nutrient. About 20 hours later nothing is happening at all, no krausen forming.

I know it's perhaps a little early but what do you think, does it stand a chance? I believe Ringwood can be a bit temperamental anyway.

If nothing is happening tomorrow morning I'll be tempted to pitch some Nottingham but that would be a shame as I planned to harvest some of the Ringwood.

 

[pittsy]

what temp you at ? if you can keep a close eye on it and adjust the temp then move it uo to 21/22c just to help start it then drop it back down to 18/20c . i had a wyeast do this and i've used white labs since .I would wait 48 hrs before re pitching and do a gravity ready first too to see if it is fermenting ( some brews are sneaky and look dead )

 

[mike77]

I was at 18c but have since upped it to 21c. Hopefully that will kick things off. I'll give it a little time.

 

[brewtim]

Have you checked gravity? It could be finished, my Ringwood started in 5-7 hours had a Krausen at 12 hours and was almost done in 48 hours. What was the date on the smack pack? Personally I think the rumours about Ringwood are unfounded and it's just brewers mistreating their yeast

Give it a stir also.

 

[jonnymorris]

Patience will win out.

 

[mike77]

Good news. Late last night I could see the krausen beginning to form and this morning it was bubbling away happily. I reckon due to not activating the pack properly I will have under pitched so won't perhaps get as fast a fermentation as I was expecting but it should be fine. I like the wyeast smack pack idea but it can be difficult to tell for sure that you have actually activated it.

 

[morethanworts]

Glad yours is on the go now. Just out of interest, if you're making a starter for a high gravity beer from one of these, do you let it swell first or just break, swish and pitch into the starter?

 

[brewtim]

Good news. Late last night I could see the krausen beginning to form and this morning it was bubbling away happily. I reckon due to not activating the pack properly I will have under pitched so won't perhaps get as fast a fermentation as I was expecting but it should be fine. I like the wyeast smack pack idea but it can be difficult to tell for sure that you have actually activated it.

So what you have experienced is a [long] lag time possibly due to a low cell count, what was the date on the packet?

It's not neccesary to break the nutrient pack to have viable yeast but, FWIW, you will be underpitching in a standard (1.040) 23l size batch anyway as a single smack pack has 100Bn cells when fresh from the factory, you need in the order 150Bn-180Bn cells to be at the correct pitching rate for an ale, this would also reduce the lag time to a few hours only. Then take into account that the yeast begins to die from this point, so a starter is always a good idea to grow cells and check viability.

It should turn out OK though, Ringwood makes a cracking tasty pint :thumb:

 

[mike77]

what was the date on the packet?

Got to admit I didn't even check. The lag time was a bit longer than usual but I think I was just being a little panicky due to not activating the pack properly.

Looking forward to trying Ringwood in my next few brews. It seems to tick the boxes I'm looking for. I'm hoping for a high amount of fruity esters, fast fermentation and fast clearing.

 

[pjc]

I've never had one of those smack packs work how I expected/wanted by following the instructions to the letter. They have always taken 2-3 days to show any activity in the FV even when the pack has swelled properly and I've had one that didn't work at all. I would always make a starter with them.

 

[mike77]

So despite the lag the Ringwood has fermented out to 1.012 and cleared in less than a week. To be honest I think it was done by Wednesday but I gave it a couple of days rest before going into the secondary for dry hopping. Seems a fast fermenting and clearing yeast. I don't think I'll even bother with gelatine as it seems so clear already. I've got another brew on now and I'll be pitching some slurry from this into it. Liking Ringwood so far.