Made a starter yeaster (no DME - mini mash) - no action

[iluvmysh]

So I made my first starter yeast by making a mini mash.
I mashed my grains at about 155 on top of the stove for about 30 minutes
then sparged on top of the stove at about 168 for about 5-7 minutes
then strained, boiled wart for 10 minutes
then cooled the wort to about 70 degrees
pitched a vial of WLP500
it's been 7 hours and there's no signs of life

i didn't take an OG reading
do you think i should add some bottled water to the starter tonight if there's no movement after 24 hours?

 

[william_shakes_beer]

How much grain did you mash, and what type? Need to verify the grains had sufficient enzymes to self convert.

 

[iluvmysh]

I took 6oz of grains from the batch i was going to brew with.
12.8lbs Pilsner
1.6lbs Munich Malt (2row)

 

[peterj]

How much water did you mash with? How big did the starter end up being? Is it on a stir plate? What's the ambient temperature?

Why would you add bottled water?

I think it's a little early to be worried. But you should start seeing activity fairly soon.

 

[iluvmysh]

My goal was to have 1L of wort. I came up short (not sure how much short) so I think the OG is quite high. (if i were to GUESS, i made 0.7L of wort instead)

I used 3 cups of water to mash, then 2 cups of water to sparge. It's not on a stir plate, just sitting on the table in a sanitized glass jug.

Ambient temp: ~70, i covered with alum. foil, wrapped in a towel
i shook the bottle this morning and moved it inside my oven for the day.

it's been 7 hours since i pitched the yeast

 

[NurseJackie]

Could be the yeast - be patient. The last starter I did with wlp500 (2 liters with pure O2) took 3 days to take off. I was about to give up on it when it went to town and fermented out in just a few hours. I chilled, decanted, and stepped it up on brew day. This round took off immediately and I pitched at high krausen with great results.

 

[iluvmysh]

Could be the yeast - be patient. The last starter I did with wlp500 (2 liters with pure O2) took 3 days to take off. I was about to give up on it when it went to town and fermented out in just a few hours. I chilled, decanted, and stepped it up on brew day. This round took off immediately and I pitched at high krausen with great results.

Thanks! I hope (sort of) that that's the case.
1) I hope I didn't mess up so bad that I destroyed all the yeast
2) but i need the yeast starter to be ready by friday....

 

[iluvmysh]

so, aside from waiting it out, would adding bottled water 24 hours after pitching to dilute the wort (perhaps to lessen the not so Original anymore Gravity) be detrimental, beneficial, unnecessary?

 

[flars]

If there is absolutely no fermentation activity you could take an OG reading. Be sure to sanitize everything you use better than you ever sanitized before.

This would be the only way to estimate the cell growth. Very high OG will give you poor growth and stressed yeast. To low of OG less cell growth than you will need.

Risk is present, but the other option is to wing it. Hopefully someone else can give you a qualified estimate of OG.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

Using your figures (3 oz grain =0.2 lbs, 6 C water=.375 Gallon) and assuming 75% brew house effeciency, your starter wort should have come out at a SG of 1.014.

 

[Odin_Brews]

Using your figures (3 oz grain =0.2 lbs, 6 C water=.375 Gallon) and assuming 75% brew house effeciency, your starter wort should have come out at a SG of 1.014.

He said he used 6 oz and 5C water preboil. If that came out at a liter starter it'd be 1.042. If it's in fact the suspected 0.7L the SG of the starter is more like 1.055-1.060.

I didn't notice a production date mentioned, I've had a few that were pushing toward 6 months old and they took more than 24 hours to get going. Give it a little more time and see what happens, it'll probably be fine.

 

[iluvmysh]

He said he used 6 oz and 5C water preboil. If that came out at a liter starter it'd be 1.042. If it's in fact the suspected 0.7L the SG of the starter is more like 1.055-1.060.

I didn't notice a production date mentioned, I've had a few that were pushing toward 6 months old and they took more than 24 hours to get going. Give it a little more time and see what happens, it'll probably be fine.

thank you all for all of the calcs.
you're correct. i'm thinking i have a higher SG because of so much loss during the mash/boil, also some spilled out when i was transferring vessels. the expiration date on the vial said feb 2014. i purchased the vial from my LHBS (more beer) this past saturday

 

[Odin_Brews]

so did it show any activity?

 

[iluvmysh]

so did it show any activity?

there was 1 cluster of bubbles in the middle. 1 large bubble surrounded by a few small bubbles. so i guess there's a tiny bit of activity. better than no activity!

 

[iluvmysh]

I pitched it (12 hrs ago) to this recipe here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f73/be...dal-dragonmead-final-absolution-clone-137219/

Right now my airlock can't keep up. Going to have to switch to a blow off tube.

 

[Odin_Brews]

Good, sounds like it worked out.

 

[iluvmysh]

It sure did. Thanks all!