Dead S-05 packet??

[huskey-no.2]

Hi All,

I pitched a 2 liter starter of S-05 into a 1.041 bitter 36 hours ago and it got down to 1.033 and seems to have stopped (or slowed down a lot). The mash went well, the starter looked good (I had it on a stirplate) and it's in a temp-controlled environment at 18°C.

Has anyone ever had a dry yeast get stuck like this before?

If it's still not moving tonight (another 12 hours) I'm thinking of pitching a second packet in.

[Bugeater]

It sounds like you had a pack that was old and/or mistreated. You also made the problem worse by making a starter with a dry yeast. You should either just rehydrate for a few minutes as recommended or pitch the dry yeast directly into the wort. Going the starter route actually decreases the viability of the yeast a bit even though that sounds counter intuitive. I think Jamil talked about that in one of the shows. Go ahead and pitch the other packet right away.

Wayne

[cheezycow]

+1 for the bug. Always do an adequate rehydration for dry yeast. From experience the s-05 is quite flocculant.

[huskey-no.2]

Rehydrated and pitched second packet ....

ferment going again and now down to within a few points of the finish.

Thanks Bug