Liquid yeast not working

[roger the dog]

Yesterday I did the Belhaven 80/- recipe from Marc Ollosson's book & used liquid yeast for the first time. I pitched the WLP028 made up into a 1 litre starter at 17:00 yesterday & there is no activity in the FV.

Having never used liquid yeast before I wondered how long fermentation usually takes to start, I'm thinking it should have kicked off by now & am tempted to pitch a sachet of dry yeast (I've got S-04, US-05 & Gervin) before the batch gets infected.

Any ideas chaps ?

[roger the dog]

No, the starter had been bubbling away really slowly for a couple of weeks but there was what appeared to be a thick layer of yeast on the bottom of the demijohn. Also, the yeast was only a week away from it's use by date when I got it

[Grot]

I've not used this yeast but have used Wyeast's Scottish Ale yeast, which is supposedly the same strain. It usually takes awhile (over 24 hours) to show active fermentation, even with a starter. I'd wait until tomorrow to pitch dry yeast.

[roger the dog]

Cheers Daab, I'll try that & keep my fingers crossed there's some action in it by the morning

[roger the dog]

Thanks Grot, will do

[roger the dog]

Still no sign of life 52 hours after pitching The S-04 is being prepared

[roger the dog]

I'm feeling pretty sick too after shelling out >£5 for the b*gger (worse still, SWMBO knows how much it was)

[mysterio]

Try e-mailing white labs with your procedure. They arranged for hop&grape to give me a free tube of yeast when the same happened to me with a tube of WLP002.

[oblivious]

No, the starter had been bubbling away really slowly for a couple of weeks but there was what appeared to be a thick layer of yeast on the bottom of the demijohn. Also, the yeast was only a week away from it's use by date when I got it

That maybe you problem, I have let starters ferment for a week, but after that i decant the liquid of and store the slurry in the fridge. Take it out when you need it, allow to warm up and pitch. But I would not store for mare the two week before I would think about making a starter again.

[roger the dog]

No, the starter had been bubbling away really slowly for a couple of weeks but there was what appeared to be a thick layer of yeast on the bottom of the demijohn. Also, the yeast was only a week away from it's use by date when I got it

That maybe you problem, I have let starters ferment for a week, but after that i decant the liquid of and store the slurry in the fridge. Take it out when you need it, allow to warm up and pitch. But I would not store for mare the two week before I would think about making a starter again.

I think you've hit the nail on the head, the yeast was comatose when I pitched it but it looks like it's finally taken off

Try e-mailing white labs with your procedure. They arranged for hop&grape to give me a free tube of yeast when the same happened to me with a tube of WLP002.

Cheers mysterio, I'll bear that in mind if I have problems in the future, looks like this one was down to my ineptitude rather than the yeast though.

[Dennis King]

I HAVE BEEN USING WHITE LABS FOR A FEW YEARS, THEY SAY ON THE LABEL TO PITCH WITHOUT STARTER. PITCHING DIRECT I HAVE NEVER HAD A PROBLEM. STARTS FERMENTING UNDER 12 HOURS.

[Aleman]

I HAVE BEEN USING WHITE LABS FOR A FEW YEARS, THEY SAY ON THE LABEL TO PITCH WITHOUT STARTER. PITCHING DIRECT I HAVE NEVER HAD A PROBLEM. STARTS FERMENTING UNDER 12 HOURS.

Please don't shout I have a head ache

I have had Whitelabs take as long as 48 hours to show activity(*), and thats with pitching into a starter. I would hesitate to pitch one tube into one of my batches . . . . but then I brew 80L at a time


(*) to be fair I did buy it in march 2007, and pitched it into the starter in November