Guys,
I made up some starters from a Wyeast 1275 back in September, pulled one out to use last Friday.
Made up a 1 litre starter as usual instructions from the Batz thread.
The weather was a bit cooler (10c at night, 15c day) and it wasn't taking off as usual. Minimal krausen, little sediment in the demijohn, few yeasties visible in the wort.
Kept shakin the shit out of it and put it in a bucket of 20c water to try and save the situation, marginal improvement.
Pitched a litre on Sunday late morning anyway - no backup dried yeast - into 20 litres @ 15c
No action Monday night, gave it a stir and turned the heat pad on :unsure:
Tuesday night, wort at 20c, good krausen - big relief - turned heatpad off
Wednesday night, wort at 18c , great krausen - solvent aroma and taste
Two questions
Do I allow longer for my starters to become active as they get older ?
I'm worried about the solventy aroma, taste. Could I have a bad lot of yeast - didn't smell off when I made up the starter. Or has the lag in fermentation been the problem ?
batch was
1.8kg LME,
mini mash 200gm amber, 100gm crystal, 20gm chocolate
added 100gm wheat DME and 100m brown sugar
9 litre boil for hour with
60 min 20gm Super Alpha,
30 min 10gm Green bullet
15 min 10gm Green bullet & Irish Moss
Hmmm .. it wouldn't be the hops would it .. first time I've tried that combination ?
I made up some starters from a Wyeast 1275 back in September, pulled one out to use last Friday.
Made up a 1 litre starter as usual instructions from the Batz thread.
The weather was a bit cooler (10c at night, 15c day) and it wasn't taking off as usual. Minimal krausen, little sediment in the demijohn, few yeasties visible in the wort.
Kept shakin the shit out of it and put it in a bucket of 20c water to try and save the situation, marginal improvement.
Pitched a litre on Sunday late morning anyway - no backup dried yeast - into 20 litres @ 15c
No action Monday night, gave it a stir and turned the heat pad on :unsure:
Tuesday night, wort at 20c, good krausen - big relief - turned heatpad off
Wednesday night, wort at 18c , great krausen - solvent aroma and taste
Two questions
Do I allow longer for my starters to become active as they get older ?
I'm worried about the solventy aroma, taste. Could I have a bad lot of yeast - didn't smell off when I made up the starter. Or has the lag in fermentation been the problem ?
batch was
1.8kg LME,
mini mash 200gm amber, 100gm crystal, 20gm chocolate
added 100gm wheat DME and 100m brown sugar
9 litre boil for hour with
60 min 20gm Super Alpha,
30 min 10gm Green bullet
15 min 10gm Green bullet & Irish Moss
Hmmm .. it wouldn't be the hops would it .. first time I've tried that combination ?