Boiled 750 Ml of well water and cooled it to approx 70 Degrees F. I dissolved one cup of wheat DME into this while it was on a rolling boil. After cooling I tossed in one sachet of S-23 yeast and waited 15 hours. Not one bubble or indication that the yeast have been roused at all. So I tossed my back up S-23 in and waited another 9 hours and again no the first bubble or hint of fermentation. So I figgured WTF and tossed in a wyeast activator packet that swelled for 3 hours after activation and still no sign of fermentation. After 24 hours I expected a nice active little colony eating itself into oblivion. I stopped the stir plate and allowed the slurry to sit perfectly still and it began to seperate but not the first hint of a bubble from either flavor of yeast. What is the possibility that I have three consecutive dead yeast packs? Two were Fermentis and before the best used before date and the wyeast did swell the bag after I smacked the inner pack. Two of the packets were kept under constant refrigeration since they arrived from midwest and Austin and the original S-23 had been in my mash tun cooler outside in my unheated/uncooled shop with the lid sealed. I plan to delay the brew of the kit till I allow at least 24 hours for the last addition to activate and have a look under the microscope for viable cells or the lack of. It just seems kind of out of the ordinary to possible have three packs from 3 suppliers and all went bad. Guess I will just have to wait, and do a post mortem tommorrow...
Wheelchair Bob
Wheelchair Bob