Beer Forum

I have never had an infection in a beer and am a pretty darn clean brewer but I am a little worried about this one. As of 5am I have a 55hour lag on my latest batch.

1.051 SG chilled to 65 F transfered to a bucket and since I did not have enough time (read lazy) I just pitched two WLP029 vials. In desperation I pitched a third vial at the 53 hour mark. Wort is sitting at 67-68 F right now so I do not think temp is an issue. I wanted to get it going then bring it down to the low 60's slowly.

If this does not take off real darn soon I am going to be seriously sad. I have not had to throw out a beer yet and i think it might just make me cry a little bit.

Was there any krausen (foamy looking stuff) on top of your brew when you pitched the last vial?

I wouldnt throw this out. Let it go, it may be your best beer ever.

Sean

Hang in there. How old were the vials? How did you aerate?

Before I'd toss it out, I check gravity and if no activity, make a nice big starter and pitch it in a high krausen. I'd think that with three vials though you will see some action soon. Also, note that just because your fermentation lock is not bubbling, does not mean you are not fermenting. The yeast are sneaky.

I've seen 48+ hour lags.

Good luck.

Nope not a thing on the wort. Still nice and clear and while it still smelled like sweet wort I also picked up a touch of a sour smell.

I will let it sit at least a week or so before I do anything. I am not going to pitch anything more into it as I have spent enough on yeast for this batch. If it is still dead after a week I am just going to pop the top off, sit it in the middle of the living room floor, and vacuum the house once or twice.

One vial was just out of date the other was just in date. The third vial I added today was fresh with a use by of May or March 2008 date on it (can't remember which)

LHBS was out of air stones so I had to rely on my old method of running the cool wort over a cone shaped tip on the bev line. It creates a large circular fan spray and splashes the wort into the bucket if you have not seen one. I also splashed the heck out of the bucket once I had the lid on.

I would just shake/slosh it up and around, then warm up to 70 and see if anything happens. If nothing then pitch your previous made starter like timmy said. Ive had that happen before and within hours she started perkin away.