# Pitching Wyeast Problem



## Major Arcana (9/9/14)

G'day Fellas

I have a question regarding pitching Wyeast 1214 Belgian Abbey, now the first thing i did wrong was not make a starter for this as i was short on time, but my main concern is that it has been 24 hours now since i have pitched it into my wort and there has been no reaction or any sign of Krausen forming. I did pop the pack and probably should have left it for a lot longer, but i pitched it probably about 6 hours from popping it.

Will this start up and be okay or should i go down a different path and try something else. Look forward to reading any thoughts or suggestions.

cheers,

Dan


----------



## jyo (9/9/14)

Hey mate. A couple of things. How old is the pack? How high is your gravity?

If the pack is fresh, say under a month or two, and your gravity is under around 1050, then you should be ok. However, making a starter is always the best way to go.

If the pack is old and tired and your gravity high, then you'll need more yeast.


----------



## going down a hill (9/9/14)

So how big was the beer in regards to size and gravity and how old was the yeast?

If you get onto http://www.yeastcalc.co/yeast-pitch-rate-and-starter-calculator it will tell you if you under pitched the yeast or not


----------



## Major Arcana (9/9/14)

Hey fellas the pack was made 4june this year. I have a 19 Litre batch with an OG of 1060. I have a feeling I may need to pitch more yeast, I'm hoping she wont stuff up.


----------



## Beer Ninja (10/9/14)

Did you let it swell at appropriate temp? (21-24c)

Seems it's slow to start according to the product information linked below. There's a lot of information there via the links to the left of the page. Good luck. Nice yeast, that 

https://www.wyeastlab.com/hb_yeaststrain_detail.cfm?ID=127


----------



## Dan2 (10/9/14)

I wouldn't be surprised if it has a krausen this morning.
Fresh enough yeast to still be viable, but without a decent cell count to start with they'll need more time to populate.
Wyeast mention that it can be a slow starter anyway.
You should get plenty of yeasty flavour from the underpitch - but it is a Belgian so that can't be a bad thing.


----------



## Ross (10/9/14)

Dan,

You have under pitched & you won't see a krausen until cell numbers have time to build.
WY1214 is a slow starter at the best of times, I wouldn't be surprised if you don't see activity for 2 to 3 days...
Just leave it well alone, it'll fire & all will be good, if your sanitary procedures are up to scratch .....


Cheers Ross


----------



## Major Arcana (10/9/14)

Thanks for the Info fellas, I will leave it well alone for another day or so then, do you think it will be fine chomping through all the sugars at an OG of 1060?

cheers,

Dan


----------



## boybrewer (10/9/14)

I did the same thing with a WLP German Lager yeast with a gravity of 1.082 it took a couple of days to fire up so DWHAHB .


----------



## Major Arcana (17/9/14)

Hey Fellas just thought I would update this, I eventually after day 3 of it being pitched started seeing the activity and she fermented beautifully after that. Is it just me or does it seem strange that the whole thing was fermented within 2-3 days after she started the krausen? I mean it seemed it started really slow and then it finished up within a couple of days? OG was 1060 and at the moment she is resting and is sitting at 1014. Does taste bloody good buy the way bloody very near on the Leffe I was hoping for.

cheers again for the advice!!

Dan


----------



## Dan2 (17/9/14)

Major Arcana said:


> ..Is it just me or does it seem strange that the whole thing was fermented within 2-3 days after she started the krausen?


Not unusual at all. Pretty common for FG to be reached within that period.
Don't rush it into the keg or bottles yet though - let them clean up their mess first


----------



## Major Arcana (17/9/14)

Dan2 said:


> Not unusual at all. Pretty common for FG to be reached within that period.
> Don't rush it into the keg or bottles yet though - let them clean up their mess first


Hey Dan2

Yeah was just surprised that it actually finished in 2 days, this was the first time I had used a Wyeast liquid yeast, I am used to the ol S05 taking a little bit longer. I normally leave it in the primary for 2 weeks to clean up etc so she will be ready for bottling this Sunday! :icon_cheers:

cheers!


----------

