Liquid yeast - first time use

[H@wkeye!]

Hi all

Another question. I brewed a belgium pale ale on Sunday. I did a started of a while labs belgium abby liquid yeast, in 100g of a malt starter i got from the local brew shop, and put that in with 30C water. I pitch the yeast simply by cutting the top, not realising that the liquid yeast pouched was meant to be pressed first.

So, after it in its container (with a lid on to stop things contaminating it - waiting about 30hrs) i added it to what is clearly hot wort (ws 32c when i added - i now realise i should have waited overnight and added it to 18c wort - giving time for my fermenting fridge to work).

Now, few days later and no activity in the fermentor.

Wonder - did i muck up the starter - not breaking the yeast container seal properly?
should i have left the lid off the container with the yeast starter in it?
Was the wort too hot?
And perhaps i need to improve my oxygenation process?

Long and short, should i get some more yeast and try again?

Hawk

 

[wide eyed and legless]

I don't think 32 degrees would kill off the yeast, how long exactly has the yeast been pitched, I have had to wait 2 days once for a liquid yeast to kick off, and that was after a vigorous shaking of the wort.

 

[H@wkeye!]

It was pitched for about 30 hrs, first about 1pm sat, and not added till 10:30pm sun (just before bed). Just opened it up and gave it a bit of a shake. There's 51L in the fermentor so can't do too much. I usually find (noting ive not used liquid yeast before) that the splashing generated when transferring into the fermentor is sufficient to add oxygen. Maybe that's only for powdered yeast though.

 

[wide eyed and legless]

Splashing isn't enough according to this bloke, I put mine on a sack truck and shake it backwards and forwards really vigorously for a couple of minutes.

 

[H@wkeye!]

Only option is a paint mixer i guess at this point...

 

[Schikitar]

Wait, you pitched one packet to 51L of wort? What was the OG? That sounds like a radical underpitch to me..

What was the size/OG of your starter? What was the date on the yeast? Take a look at this calculator - https://www.brewersfriend.com/yeast-pitch-rate-and-starter-calculator/ - see what sort of numbers it spits out..

 

[H@wkeye!]

1L of starter, took advice from the local brew shop. OG was 1.048. Took another reading and was 1.053 earlier today. Have ordered some more yeast. If no activity by then i'll put it in.