After four days?

[Rep]

Hi
I pitched the yeast late Saturday afternoon and it is now Wednesday morning.  I have seen no activity.

I set the carboy up with a blow off tube and now just changed over to a normal S fermentation lock.  I am hoping I will see some activity

When I opened it up I smelled no off smell, and actually smelled more like a fermented beer than fresh wort. 

I am usually one to not worry about lag times, but four and a half days does seem like a stretch.

When should I pitch another packet of dry yeast?  I tend to think sooner than later.

Thanks

[feistycapn]

Just went thru this. Suggest you check the gravity to see if your yeast has actually been hard at work. In my case it was and I racked into secondary this morning. I was looking at the air lock on my plastic primary and apparently the lid was not CO2 tight so no bubbles in the air lock. (Note to self: get a second Carboy and shelf the plastic bucket 

Sounds like you are in glass so you should be able to see what's going on. So this may not apply to you.

Doug

[Rep]

Just went thru this. Suggest you check the gravity to see if your yeast has actually been hard at work. In my case it was and I racked into secondary this morning. I was looking at the air lock on my plastic primary and apparently the lid was not CO2 tight so no bubbles in the air lock. (Note to self: get a second Carboy and shelf the plastic bucket 

Sounds like you are in glass so you should be able to see what's going on. So this may not apply to you.

Doug

I am in glass, and this evening I see that nice, bright white layer of Krusen, (sp) developing.

I will be drinking good beer in a number of weeks.

TY

[UselessBrewing]

If after 4 days you could have taken a gravity reading to see if there was any drop from the OG. If not, then I would say Pitch more yeast. But since you have activity, all is well.. Here's to Happy Yeast
Cheers
Preston

[Enchanted Brew]

Interesting.  We haven't seen any airlock activity at 15 hours after pitching our yeast Saturday at noon.  We're currently out of town until Wednesday night.  We usually see lots of airlock action the morning after pitching.  We'll check our SG when we return.  If the SG is lower than the OG, we stay the course?  If the SG hasn't moved from the OG number, we should pitch another yeast into a carboy?  Our lid is tight, airlock is tight in the lid.

This is a Kolsch recipe.  Are we on the right track?

[Maine Homebrewer]

I've got those fermemeters taped to all my fermenting vessels, and I find that yeast activity raises the temperature by two degrees on average.  I try to have more than one batch going at a time, gives me more to drink but it also gives something for comparison.
The batch I started on Saturday seemed to be lagging from the airlock activity (or lack thereof rather), but it was a solid two degrees warmer (52) than its neighbor (50) yesterday. 
Sure enough it was bubbling when I got home from work today.

[MaltLicker]

I recently did a kolsch with 2565 and it was slow to start.  I did no starter on that one.  It eventually got going.

[UselessBrewing]

We'll check our SG when we return.  If the SG is lower than the OG, we stay the course?

Yes 

If the SG hasn't moved from the OG number, we should pitch another yeast into a carboy?

Yes

Things to remember: Aerate Well your wort well. Never pitch the yeast with more than a 10 deg F temp difference. Make a starter if at all possible. If you are using a SmakPak always wait till the package is bulging before pitching. When you buy yeast, try to always remember to check the date. Nothing older than 1 year should ever be used without a starter.

Cheers
Preston

[Enchanted Brew]

So far, we've only used White Labs brand yeast in the glass tube.

Is a yeast starter made using only the wort for the batch being brewed?  So, after cooling the wort down to 70-72 degrees, can we collect a couple of cups? in a sanitized Pyrex container then pitch the yeast into this wort sample and let it sit for some period of time?  How long?  All the time my cooled wort is just sitting on the counter waiting for the yeast starter to be done so it can be pitched?  Do I understand this process correctly?

[UselessBrewing]

Is a yeast starter made using only the wort for the batch being brewed?

No.

A couple days before I brew a batch I get about a cup of lite DME and boil it with 2 qt's water for 20 min (This depends on the OG of the wort you are going to brew in a few days). After that I fill the sink with ice and a little water to cool the wort down to pitching temp. Add the yeast to an old Wine bottle and shake it up real well. install airlock and let it sit until you are ready to pitch, swirl the bottle to suspend everything and pitch the whole thing.

My rule of thumb is this: If I am brewing anything under 1.060 I use the above steps. For beers between 1.060 to 1.080 I double it. For the Really big beers that reach upwards of 1.090 + I make a smaller beer first (Usually no larger than 1.040) and pitch the big beer on top of the yeast cake from the smaller beer's primary fermentation. I usually just cut the big beer recipe down that way the yeast have something they are use to. You could use any glass container that will hold the amount of liquid you are going to pitch into. You can also go to MR Malty (http://www.mrmalty.com/) for exact pitching rates, but I tend to keep it simple. It all depends on the type of brewer you are. This is your hobby, Be as detailed or as lax as you want!

Hope this helps

Cheers
Preston

[SOGOAK]

Preston, I just got the same big beer advice for use with my Unibroue yeast. 

The thought of getting a "small" beer as a byproduct for the Quadruppel I want to make is so cool.

[SOGOAK]

I'll also throw out this-I just moved to all grain 2 batches ago and kept the last 2-4 quarts of second runnings in 2 quart juice bottles.  You can freeze them.  But either way you boil as Preston describes.

The O'fest I have in primary was built on this recovered starter wort and reused yeast.  That is like $8-10 saved.  Plus the challenge of using ingenuity.

[MaltLicker]

Is a yeast starter made using only the wort for the batch being brewed?

No.

........swirl the bottle to suspend everything and pitch the whole thing.

I never thought about it, but "starter" is not quite the right word.....perhaps "multiplier" would fit better.  As Preston described, you're trying more to multiply your yeast cell count in advance of brew day to fit the style and batch size you are brewing.  Higher OG's and higher volumes of wort demand more yeast to complete the fermentation with the yeast character you seek (clean versus fruity, spicy, phenolic, etc.). 

Some people pitch the whole thing, but others do it days in advance and chill the starter liquid to settle the yeast so that they can decant the spent wort.  With a big starter, especially in a subtle beer like kolsch, the spent wort in the starter could throw off your beer.  www.mrmalty.com has pages on starter methods that are worth reading.