Wyeast 2000 (Budvar Pils)

[ajdelange]

I've used this strain with sucess several times - love the result. The beer tastes one heck of a lot more like Budvar than beers made with the PU strain taste like PU.

But I'm having problems. The starters I'm making with it don't start! Last week I put 2 slap packs into about 5 gallons of wort containing 3 lbs of DME and 1/2 tsp. Wyeast Beer Nutrient Blend. Plenty of oxygen was supplied. After a couple of days - nothing. Finally, about 4 days in a bit of gas evolution began but subsided quickly. When I dumped it about 5 days later there was very little sediment.

So back to the LHBS for 2 more paks packaged about 6 weeks ago. Same story! 45 hours in there are only 2 tiny islands of foam one of which did not increase in size overnight.

It's not overly cold in the brewery - wort temperature has been between 65 and 70 °F in both cases. Other evidence: the slap packs did not swell visibly in the hour or 2 between slapping and pitching.

I've made starters in this way for years now so I don't think it's technique. My question here is whether anyone else who uses this strain has had trouble with it recently.



Thanks, A.J.

[Westco]

Sorry to hear of your yeast problems. i had a simular situation happen to me with the pilsen strain from Wyeast. I think that there was a chance that I was pitching my yeast into a starter wort that was too hot 90º+. 90º to the touch does not feel like 90º. it feels more like 75 to me. I realized I have been pitching too hot when i took the temp of a starter that I thought was 75º and it was 86º. So I may have killed off my yeast. I pay attention now to my starters.

Also keep in mind that they are lager yeasts so they should have less head then a ale yeast. I bet if you gave it more time it would come around eventually. That budvar strain makes a freaking awesome pilsner thats for sure! Hope you figure it out.

Westco

[Elbone]

Maybe you got some that was older, or not stored optimally, or got hot during shipping? Maybe Wyeast had a sub-standard batch sneak past quality control? I'd do two things:

Let Wyeast know. I'm sure they'd like to hear about this. (then let us know how they respond)

Smack a day or so in advance next time you use this strain to see if the packs swells normally. I like the ability to proof Wyeast yeast before violating the seal.

Let us know what you find out.