Repitch Or Wait?

[Stagwa]

Hi Brewers,



I have a Kit wheat beer (Morgans Golden sheaf wheat, can of liquid wheat extract & Brew Cellar Wheat beer yeast) in the fermenting fridge but have no signs of fermentation. Pitched Friday night at about 20:30.



Yeast is Brew Cellar wheat beer yeast (K-97?) re-hydrated in 200ml boiled and cooled water with 2 teaspoons DME. Numbers on yeast packet suggest Feb. 2012 (002 over 5212)



Pitch temp 22 deg.

Fridge mate set to 18deg (majority of time it sits at 19deg)



No froth is evident and no bubbling in the air lock (have not yet taken a hydrometer reading)



I dont have any more of the same yeast and cant get any until Monday. I have S-04 and Morgans Premium Ale yeast. Should I pitch one of these or wait for Monday? Is the brew to cold? If this is K-97 temp range should be 15 24 deg?



Cheers

Stagwa

 

[Wisey]

I got a Canadian Blonde kit doing the same at the moment.

So I took a sample and had a smell/ taste and it is working..... but my air lock still hasnt bubbled

 

[rclemmett]

The point of adding the DME to the re-hydrating yeast is to prove that it is viable. Did you wait to see if it started to froth? If it did then it should be fine.

I would take a hydro reading before you worry.

I would also suggest you to use a little more water next time for 15g of yeast, maybe 300ml.

 

[RdeVjun]

Couple of things I can suggest- measure with your hydrometer and just wait. Repeat at daily intervals. If you don't see the measurement dropping within three days of the initial pitch, then repitch. You'll need an initial SG measurement anyway if you want to work out alcohol content, so it serves two purposes in getting a sample.

Did the yeast froth up at rehydration? Also, with that rehydration process, I'd skip the DME, its not necessary at that stage while it wakes up, it consumes its own glycogen reserve, but don't leave it much more than half an hour before pitching. If you do add DME then its really a starter you've created and it can run longer with it in to multiply it up. In the end, if you want to just test its viability, just boiled cooled water and wait for froth, else if you want to multiply the now- rehydrated yeast, then including some DME when you boil it up is going to feed them in their nursery. But it has to be scrupulously clean, i.e. boil it all (container, water, DME) for half an hour or more otherwise you're risking infection.

Can't say much about wheat strains as I've never used any, however you might find that BrewCellar Premium Ale is in fact S-04. I'd be waiting until monday afternoon to do anything more though, buy some more yeast if there's no sign of hydrometer action then.

Oh, and as usual, ignore your airlock, it is a liar and a thief. All of mine have been sinbinned for now and I just use clingfilm. With it you can watch your krausen closely and there's no farting around relieving suction/ preventing backwash when taking a sample. Simple.

 

[Stagwa]

Thanks for the replies.

I think that the yeast is dead no action yet. LHBS has replaced the yeast just waiting for hydration to finish. Have done a "taste and sniff" - seems OK. Hopefully Ill have some fermenting action soon.

Cheers,
Stagwa

 

[bconnery]

It's been a while since I used it but I seem to recall k97 could be a slow starter at times...

 

[WSC]

From memory this kit and yeast takes a while to get going and when it does there are not vigorous signs of activity.

I have had some off flavours with this as the lag may let some nasties breed.

I will be using a different yeast (liquid) next time with a starter to see the difference. I also found that at the temps you state the flavour is pretty subdued, not like a german wheat beer which is what I was after.

 

[PostModern]

It's been a while since I used it but I seem to recall k97 could be a slow starter at times...

Yeah, it's real slow to get going. Dog of a yeast. Get it? K9? Dog? Aaaaah forget it.

Don't see K-97 being mentioned much these days, since US56/05 came out...

 

[bconnery]

Get it? K9? Dog?

Affirmative Master