Starter didn't start...

[casualbrewer]

Bought a vial of wlp800 from my lhbs. Mixed up a half gallon starter wort and pitched vial at 63 degrees. Let it sit for about 18 hours and all the yeast was sitting on the bottom. I tried rousing it up bit got nothing.... vial was good through February so not sure what went wrong. Anybody get a dud before? Good thing I put some wlp American lager yeast in a jar from a previous batch. Got that in my starter wort now and it is rolling right along. Should I ask my lhbs about it?

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Check the solenoid.

 

[brewshki]

How much sugar or dme was in your starter? I have heard that some starters can take off and be done before you can see it depending on how often you check it. Did you aerate before or during the 18 hours? When I do mine, a good amount of yeast does sit at the bottom

 

[philipCT]

I make starters from Wyeast liquid smack paks religiously. In all of about 35 starters I've made, had exactly one dud. It was so obviously in contrast to all the others, there was no question. The pack was not particularly outdated or anything, it was just a dud. I tossed it and started over with fresh yeast. Bingo!

 

[casualbrewer]

How much sugar or dme was in your starter? I have heard that some starters can take off and be done before you can see it depending on how often you check it. Did you aerate before or during the 18 hours? When I do mine, a good amount of yeast does sit at the bottom

2 cups dme. Aerated really well before pitching and roused it twice.... nothing. Thing about it was the wort was sweet still. Zero signs of fermentation. My yeast now has a krausen already and was pitched a few hours ago.

 

[brewshki]

Weird.