Wyeast 1214- Belgian Abbey slow start

Brewed the Le petite Orange Friday evening, 9/18, and pitched in Wyeast 1214 once it hit 70 degrees, which is right there in the optimal temp range (68-78 degrees). As of this morning (9/22), still no activity in the 'ol air lock.

Sitting in my house at 70 degrees, shoot the crap out of the beer to aerate. OG is 1.060, all grain kit kicked up with an extra 1/2# of brown sugar.

Should I let it sit longer? Add in some yeast nutrient? Put in a pack of US-05 to kick it off? Any ideas?

[quote=“jabonneau86”]Brewed the Le petite Orange Friday evening, 9/18, and pitched in Wyeast 1214 once it hit 70 degrees, which is right there in the optimal temp range (68-78 degrees). As of this morning (9/22), still no activity in the 'ol air lock.

Sitting in my house at 70 degrees, shoot the crap out of the beer to aerate. OG is 1.060, all grain kit kicked up with an extra 1/2# of brown sugar.

Should I let it sit longer? Add in some yeast nutrient? Put in a pack of US-05 to kick it off? Any ideas?[/quote]

Get than temp down fast! If that yeast goes above about 63F you get a banana/bubblegum bomb!

Don’t trust the airlock. Does it look like it’s fermenting? Has the gravity dropped?

Well poop. Will have to move around some other carboys to make room in the keezer.

Nothing. No movement inside, no foam. trying not to open it up, but will to check gravity if I don’t see anything else.

A couple of yeast questions to help understand your situation…How old was the yeast? I have to watch our LHBS on this. By 5 months past manufacture, youre pitching a lot of stinky dead yeast. Probably ok if it was a kit…and did you do a starter? At 1.060 not mandatory if a fresh Wyeast pack but getting close and always the right answer.

Manufacture date was 7/28 on the pack. Was in my fridge from the day I got it to a few hours before brewing.

Did you make a starter? If not, the lag will likely be very long.

Just my .02 cents worth, but I feel all Belgian yeast strains need big healthy starters. With that O.G. I would have had a 1/2 gallon starter. I don’t get long lag times this way, and have good strong ferments, always. Most all my Belgian beers start at low 60 degs at least for 36-48 hrs. and then ramp up temp from there, but that’s how I like them. That’s my success story.

Did not do a starter. Do if I get much higher than 1.060, but usually don’t. Need to change that process I guess.

I have a LOT of experience with Wyeast and I recommend you make a starter for anything over 1.040.

Ya know, I’ve seen this thread before, and the salvage for an interminable lag seems to always be to pitch some dry yeast to get things going…

you have plenty of fuel but no (or not enough) viable yeast. A packet of US05 will help rectify that.

A Learning Curve situation. That starter will solve a lot of problems next time :wink:

[quote=“Voodoo donut”]Ya know, I’ve seen this thread before, and the salvage for an interminable lag seems to always be to pitch some dry yeast to get things going…

you have plenty of fuel but no (or not enough) viable yeast. A packet of US05 will help rectify that.

A Learning Curve situation. That starter will solve a lot of problems next time :wink: [/quote]

^^^^ This is a good suggestion. At this point, with a 4-day lag, you probably don’t have much healthy yeast in there. The healthy yeast cells you have will have been reproducing like crazy, so it will probably still lend some of its characteristic flavors. Getting something like a packet of US-05 in there as soon as possible is a good idea. It’s neutral enough that it won’t conflict with any flavors the Belgian strain may be producing.

of course the day I posted this I got home, and it was churning away. Like Denny suggested, got it in the keezer and dropped it down to 64 and brought it up a few degrees over the rest of the week and weekend.

Had to bring it inside the house at 70 because needed to cold crash another beer for kegging for a party.

Starter is on the prep list from now on though for every beer, not just the big boys.

Yep, tastes like I’m drinking bazooka bubble gum. Anyway that this will age out or stuck with it?

It will lessen somewhat, but you’re likely stuck with it to some degree.