Did I do something wrong - Liquid Yeast

[Colo]

Hello All, long time no post.

Boiled myself up a lovely brew last night, house smelt like wheat malt and 2 types of hops. Im trying to make a Hoegaarden clone so I decided I would order some Belgium Wheat yeast. I wasn't paying attention when I ordered it and when it arrived realised it was a WYEAST liquid yeast.

There were many more instructions on the packet but I tried to follow them the best I could, broke the internal netrient packet and left it for 4 hours in the ambient air (around 18c-20c). Once I had finished with the wort I had it sitting at around 21c-22c as requested on the packet and poured the yeast into the wort.

Its now the next day and my airlock hasn't moved at all, even if bubbling is slow to start I would at least see the gasses starting to move through the airlock...but nothing. I would have thought this yeast would have started like a bat outta hell as its meant to be "activated". Since this is my first time using liquid yeast have I got this all wrong, is it normally slow to get going? Would hate to see all that effort and ingrediant tipped down the drain...

I know many people rubbish airlocks on this forum, but mine has a seal and I have never had an issue with it.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[DJ_L3ThAL]

Maybe you are finally having an issue with the seal? Without opening the fermenter can you see any krausen ring evidence against the fermenter wall?

In any case give it some time, if it has no krausen after 48hours I'd pitch a backup packet of something. Did the wyeast pack swell up at all?

 

[Spiesy]

What was the volume and gravity of your wort?

What is the expiry date on the Wyeast pack?

Even before you answer those questions, it sometimes takes a while for an airlock to show activity - 1-day really isn't a biggie. Is there krausen forming on the top of the wort (a foamy collar)?

 

[manticle]

Look up 'why isn't my airlock bubbling?'

 

[Eagleburger]

Did the yeast packet puff?

 

[Colo]

Did the yeast packet puff?

I'm at work so I cant answer everybodys questions until I get home, however I can confirm that yes the yeast packet did puff.

 

[squirt in the turns]

To attempt to answer your question as directly as possible with the information provided so far: yes, sorry, you did at least one thing wrong. While the Wyeast instructions say something along the lines of a pack being sufficient to inoculate 20 litres of 1.050 wort, that is based on ideal conditions and a very fresh pack (the date of manufacture is printed on it). As your pack swelled (a lot, or a little?) within 4 hours it was probably pretty fresh and as others have said, overnight is not a long enough period of inactivity to get concerned about.

However, your main mistake was posting a "why isn't my airlock bubbling?" question on AHB.

Your assumption that it "would have started like a bat outta hell" is a bit erroneous as liquid yeast is a lot more sensitive to inappropriate storage, and its viability decreases quite rapidly. It usually pays to use a pitching rate calculator such as Mr Malty, which will tell you exactly how big a starter to make based on the volume and gravity of your wort and the age of the yeast pack.

 

[Colo]

based on the volume and gravity of your wort and the age of the yeast pack.

That is one thing that sorta surprised me last night, Im pretty sure the pack said its from March this year, not knowing anything about liquid yeast I assumed it would be fine considering the brew shop still sent it to me (they are one of the stores in the header of this site). The puffyness was probably around medium.

But yes your right, the package mentions it is enough for 5 gallons (19 litres).

 

[Yob]

Relax, take a deep breath, sit down with a beer and play the patience game.

If at 24hrs there are no signs of activity, as in krausen, dropping gravity condensation and as a last resort.. blooping.. then start to think about doing something about it.