Just got 3787 from NB, the cool envelope came cracked open (second delivery in a row) and my starter is slow to start. Is that right that the wyeast 3787 is slow to start like 1214 ?
Did you have your package from Northern Brewer shipped in an expedited manner (e.g., overnight shipping)? If you used just regular delivery there is a good chance that your yeast was damaged in transport (despite having a cold pack) from high temperatures. Cheers!
How did you make your starter? How much starter? Are you using the shake method? Ambient room temps? Did you shake the starter to aerate it before pitching? Did you cool the starter sufficiently to pitching temps?
I use 5 litter flask, making 4 litter worth OG 1.033. At the first 24 hours the starter didn't show any sign of action, so I deep the flask in worm water making it about 75 F. after 2 hours it started to foam. Right now we are at the 2nd day of fermentation and its blowing up thick yeast all over the fridge
My guess is this contributed to the slow start. Not sure what "envelope came cracked open" means, but pitching a single envelope into 4 liters is a mighty low innoculation rate. The age of the packet gives you a clue as to how many viable cells you're working with, but even a brand new packet (unlikely) would put you in marginal territory. I find this yeast calculator helpful: http://yeastcalculator.com/ When filled in it will display your innoc rate. Ideally this should be in the 40 - 125 million cells/ml. Don't let the math throw you, the calc does all the work. If your packet was as little as two months old you only pitched 60'ish billion cells which gives an innoc rate of 14(mil/ml). This is the equivalent of throwing a side of beef to a lap dog . . . a bit over-whelming. If you play around with the parameters you'll see that a super large starter (with a low innoc rate) gives diminishing returns; i.e. 2L + 2L ≠ 4L. Try adding yeast starter and oxygen in lieu of worm water .
