Yeastcake Failed For The First Time

[Interloper]

I had a yeastcake pitching fail to take off which is a first for me. I've done it several times and normally they take off within a few hours.

Some here have even suggested that using the whole yeastcake is over pitching but after chucking a coopers real ale kit onto a yeastcake of Safale US-05 that was about 7 days old I have no krausen, no activity after 36 hours.

After 24 hours and no activity I worried the brewshed might have been a bit cold, temps were down around 14c, so I bunged the heat belt on the fermenter overnight and this morning it was still flat with no activity and the temp was up to 19c.

So should I just pitch more yeast into this? Could the US-05 just have been dead after 7 days and not dormant?

That's kind of weird as I've pitched onto yeastcakes before that have been 2 weeks old and had the ferment kick in within hours not days.

 

[gibbocore]

check the hydrometer that it hasnt already fermented out

 

[Maple]

just to be sure, have you done a Hydro sample to check the gravity? This will be the determining factor to see if anything is happening or not.

perhaps it fermented out when you blinked... doubtful, but gravity will tell you what, if anything is going on. If it is still at OG, i would be worried that the yeasties are still sleeping/dormant, perhaps non-viable, but maybe a rousing of the yeast will help.

Edit: beaten to it, curse you fat fingers....

 

[Interloper]

If it is still at OG, i would be worried that the yeasties are still sleeping/dormant, perhaps non-viable, but maybe a rousing of the yeast will help.

Yes it's OG, no movement.

and oh yes there was some serious "rousing" going on yesterday as I shook the crap out of my fermenter to froth the yeast up through the wort.

 

[jonocarroll]

One way to find out - pour off half a PET bottle worth, seal it, shake the heck out of it, vent, seal, and leave it at a warm temperature (~25*C) for a day or two, then check the SG of that. If it hasn't moved (optimal conditions for the yeast to work) then it's stuffed, and you should repitch. Note that the sample won't taste particularly correct - you're just seeing if the yeast still works.

Cheers to (I think) buttersd70 for this tip.

 

[Interloper]

One way to find out - pour off half a PET bottle worth, seal it, shake the heck out of it, vent, seal, and leave it at a warm temperature (~25*C) for a day or two, then check the SG of that. If it hasn't moved (optimal conditions for the yeast to work) then it's stuffed, and you should repitch. Note that the sample won't taste particularly correct - you're just seeing if the yeast still works.

Cheers to (I think) buttersd70 for this tip.

I would be a bit infection paranoid leaving my wort for a couple of days whilst I wait to see if the yeastcake is viable.

Am I at risk of anything other than too yeasty beer if I just repitch? I have no US05 left though so it will be the standard safale or maybe some notty. (A yeast cocktail!)

 

[jonocarroll]

I would be a bit infection paranoid leaving my wort for a couple of days whilst I wait to see if the yeastcake is viable.

Am I at risk of anything other than too yeasty beer if I just repitch? I have no US05 left though so it will be the standard safale or maybe some notty. (A yeast cocktail!)

If it's sealed, and you've done your sanitation correctly, it shouldn't be a problem leaving it. If you're particularly worried, I suppose you could just repitch (though that defeats the purpose of asking what you should do) - the only problem being that if the original batch was overpitched, and is just dormant/stuck, your new addition will either also go dormant, or you'll be massively overpitching.

If you shake the sample often enough, you should see some movement within 24 hours, and know what your yeast is doing. In the end the decision is yours.

 

[mwd]

I reckon leave it alone it will start up.

US-05 at 14C will be super slow to get going.

I just started a brew using a cup of US-05 slurry at 20C and it took 36 hours to get really going at 24 there was only a faint trace of bubbles on the surface I also thought it was dead.

The QB (butters) tip is a good one.

 

[Ross]

Interloper - Leave it alone - It will fire, have patience...

Cheers Ross

 

[Sammus]

7 days? I think that's a bit long. If I'm ever pitching onto a yeastcake it's usually only an hour or so before racking the beer off it. Two hours, tops.

 

[Interloper]

7 days? I think that's a bit long. If I'm ever pitching onto a yeastcake it's usually only an hour or so before racking the beer off it. Two hours, tops.

Sorry to be clear I racked the beer and used the yeastcake straight away. The beer had been finished for several days.

I didn't have a yeastcake sitting in a fermenter for 7 days by itself.

It's weird that it's taking so long as normally a yeastcake pitch gets cracking in hours not days.

 

[technocat]

Not sure what the problem is but I tend to go with Ross, be patient. I pitched an APA onto US-05 yeastcake last weekend and it fired up after 8-10 hours, it's been chirping away at 14-16C fairly constant so wouldn't think your temps are a problem. I do keep an insulating blanket around the fermenter to stabilise the temps at night which can drop down to 4-8C.

Cheers.