Dud Wyeast Liquid Yeast Packet? - Help Desperately Needed

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by dmvanmeveren, Oct 15, 2014.

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  1. dmvanmeveren

    dmvanmeveren Initiate (0) Apr 10, 2014 South Dakota

    Thanks for all of the suggestions! I'm just focusing on one-gallon batches so that I can rapidly experiment with various grain bills, and I can't drink enough beer to justify 2.5-3.5 (certainly not 5) gallon batches at the moment. I'd be fine with gifting my homebrew to friends, but I want a beer that I am proud of before I give some away.

    I'll leave my batch for another week or two and bottle it in a few liter swing-cap bottles and just see what happens.

    My next batch, I'll take all of the suggestions on this forum.

    Maybe I will try a Vienna malt SMASH brew just for the sake of simplicity to make sure I nail my procedure.

    Is it possible that I performed my mash incorrectly? I ground the grains in my coffee mill and left some coarse and some fine and mashed inside of a specialty grain bag (not a large nylon bag) at 156 for 90 minutes and then dripped the excess wort from the grains instead of squeezing the bag after the mash.
     
    #21 dmvanmeveren, Oct 15, 2014
  2. MLucky

    MLucky Initiate (0) Jul 31, 2010 California

    Lager starters usually need to be much larger, because lagers require significantly higher numbers of cells.

    It's definitely possible to make good beers using lager yeasts that aren't typically used for those beers. However, for the time being, it might be wiser to stick with ale yeast: lager yeast is very temperature sensitive, and you might want to stay away from it until you have the equipment needed to very accurately control temperature. (Unless you refrigerate your food at 50F, just putting it in the fridge probably won't work very well. For one thing, lager fermentations are funky, and you don't want those smells in there.)

    If you're interested in suggestions, I would say just use SF-05, a dry yeast that ferments very cleanly in a wide temperature range. You can weigh it out to determine the appropriate amount for a one gallon batch--a whole package would be way too much. No need for a starter, but it's wise to rehydrate the yeast before pitching. You can ferment with that at 75F ambient, espeically if you throw a wet t-shirt over the fermenter. That's the good old "wet t-shirt trick," and it will lower the internal temp of the fermenter by 5-10 degrees. Try that for the next couple batches, and I think you'll be pleased with the results.
     
    #22 MLucky, Oct 16, 2014
  3. AlCaponeJunior

    AlCaponeJunior Grand Pooh-Bah (3,452) May 21, 2010 Texas
    Society Pooh-Bah

    I did 3.5 gallons for a while, worked great. For the amount of work and worry you're putting into it, you mighta shoulda ought to bump up your batch size a bit.

    A 2.5 gallon batch should (in theory) be about right for a non-startered pack of wyeast or vial of SLP (or whatever WLP is doing these days). Mind you I mean a reasonable gravity batch (for me reasonable gravity is 12 lbs of grain for five gallons, OG around 1.060).

    @VikeMan 's spreadsheet or beersmith might be good for you at this point too.

    And I agree that dry yeast is friggin' great. I mostly use dry yeast because it's so easy and works so well. Rehydration is good.
     
    #23 AlCaponeJunior, Oct 16, 2014
  4. HerbMeowing

    HerbMeowing Maven (1,295) Nov 10, 2010 Virginia
    Trader

    Two things:
    1) RDWHAHB
    2) Re-evaluate your expectations. Nothing described is the least bit out of the ordinary.
    3) Situation normal. Remain calm. Carry on.
     
    #24 HerbMeowing, Oct 16, 2014
  5. dmvanmeveren

    dmvanmeveren Initiate (0) Apr 10, 2014 South Dakota

    UPDATE: There appears to be a thin creamy krausen approximately 1/3 an inch thick at the top of the wort, but there are still no bubbles coming from the air-lock.
     
    #25 dmvanmeveren, Oct 16, 2014
  6. ronobvious2

    ronobvious2 Initiate (0) Aug 24, 2010 Tennessee

    I did this on my last batch, admitted it, got a good ear-flicking for it too. Sounds like we both put too much faith in pre-packaged yeast.
     
    #26 ronobvious2, Oct 16, 2014
  7. VikeMan

    VikeMan Grand Pooh-Bah (3,067) Jul 12, 2009 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah

    Bubbles may be coming later. Or not at all. That will depend on how tightly sealed your fermenter is. That's why bubbles are not a good quantitative indicator of fermentation progress. They can be a halfway decent qualitative indicator, if you know your system/processes/recipes well.

    Did you do anything to get your temperature down?
     
    #27 VikeMan, Oct 16, 2014
  8. dmvanmeveren

    dmvanmeveren Initiate (0) Apr 10, 2014 South Dakota

    UPDATE: Alright, I'm calm. Fermentation is finally visible and there are bubbles in the air-lock. I did wrap the glass carboy in a wet towel (suggested by MLucky) and placed it near the vent of my air-conditioner. Even though I have no definitive way to measure wort temperature for the moment, I can safely assume it is cooler than it would have been just sitting in a cabinet.

    In the future, though, I will not use an entire smack pack for my one gallon batches and will not use a starter. I'll just stick to re-hydrated dry yeasts for a while.

    Thanks to everyone for all of the advice, I really appreciate it!

    I'll update the thread periodically when I can finally taste this beast. I am anticipating some off-flavors because, as many had mentioned, I used too much yeast and perhaps the 500mL yeast starter will impart some other weird flavors.

    But hey, mistakes offer valuable lessons!
     
    #28 dmvanmeveren, Oct 16, 2014
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