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Author Topic: Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire - not taking off!  (Read 5195 times)

Offline CranjisMcBasketball

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Re: Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire - not taking off!
« Reply #15 on: February 18, 2018, 08:46:21 pm »
Can you break it down?

Guy basically states that he pitched right from the smack pack and had no activity for 36 hours, right when he was about to pitch a US04 it started rocketing at 48 hours and continued with a huge krausen cap for 8 it 9 days and attenuated out to 1010. So maybe I should wait for another day or two to be very sure before I pitch dry.

Offline klickitat jim

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Re: Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire - not taking off!
« Reply #16 on: February 18, 2018, 09:08:23 pm »
Yes, wait.

Offline CranjisMcBasketball

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Re: Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire - not taking off!
« Reply #17 on: February 19, 2018, 05:24:24 am »
Soooooo, I popped the airlock out this morning, and peered down into the FV and saw.......... a moderate size layer of what appears to be krausen forming. However, this could also simply be foam from when I originally aerated the wort before pitching. What is the likelihood that the foam created while aerating would still be around instead of krausen generated by active fermentation?

Offline BrewBama

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Re: Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire - not taking off!
« Reply #18 on: February 19, 2018, 05:30:04 am »
I choose to believe it is the miracle of fermentation. I don’t think aeration foam would last so long.


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Offline CranjisMcBasketball

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Re: Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire - not taking off!
« Reply #19 on: February 19, 2018, 05:52:39 am »
I choose to believe it is the miracle of fermentation. I don’t think aeration foam would last so long.


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Me too!  I’m going to take a reading on Friday and if it hasn’t hanged, pitch the dry then.  But no sooner.  Thanks everybody for your help so far!

Offline joelv

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Re: Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire - not taking off!
« Reply #20 on: February 19, 2018, 06:11:37 am »
I choose to believe it is the miracle of fermentation. I don’t think aeration foam would last so long.


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Me too!  I’m going to take a reading on Friday and if it hasn’t hanged, pitch the dry then.  But no sooner.  Thanks everybody for your help so far!

Aeration foam is usually gone in an hour or so.

From your description, you did everything just fine. A 1L starter is not too small for your OG assuming it was a standard 5 gallon batch.

If you didn’t, I usually like to add a pinch of nutrient to the starter, but you just seemed to have a bit of a slow start. It will probably be fine.


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Offline klickitat jim

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Re: Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire - not taking off!
« Reply #21 on: February 19, 2018, 06:45:28 am »
Just a wild guess that the OP is using buckets, which are notorious for leaking CO2 around the lid therefore no, or very few, bubbles in the airlock.

Regardless... it's a good time to remind that bubbles in the airlock are one way of "seeing" fermentation. But since changes in temp can effect bubbling, it's not a reliable way. If you doubt this, take an empty bucket and set it somewhere cold. Put an airlock on it. Move it to somewhere warm and see what happens. Is the emptiness fermenting? Or is the air expanding?

Offline CranjisMcBasketball

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Re: Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire - not taking off!
« Reply #22 on: February 19, 2018, 07:55:18 am »
I choose to believe it is the miracle of fermentation. I don’t think aeration foam would last so long.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Me too!  I’m going to take a reading on Friday and if it hasn’t hanged, pitch the dry then.  But no sooner.  Thanks everybody for your help so far!

Aeration foam is usually gone in an hour or so.

From your description, you did everything just fine. A 1L starter is not too small for your OG assuming it was a standard 5 gallon batch.

If you didn’t, I usually like to add a pinch of nutrient to the starter, but you just seemed to have a bit of a slow start. It will probably be fine.


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It does seem that way. I appreciate everybody restoring my confidence here. This is only my third brew and I really want it to come out as good as my first two. As I become more seasoned, is there a type of FV that is reasonably priced but more effective in means of sealing than a bucket?  Because I know that when this happens again I’m going to worry just as much!

Offline Phil_M

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Re: Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire - not taking off!
« Reply #23 on: February 20, 2018, 05:21:05 am »
It does seem that way. I appreciate everybody restoring my confidence here. This is only my third brew and I really want it to come out as good as my first two. As I become more seasoned, is there a type of FV that is reasonably priced but more effective in means of sealing than a bucket?  Because I know that when this happens again I’m going to worry just as much!

Carboys, glass or otherwise, tend to seal up better. Brew Buckets from SS Brewtech seem to be the best route to a stainless fermenter.

Or just find a nice quite place and leave the lid off the beer, 1469 is my favorite strain and I intend to open ferment it/top crop it next time around.

Check this out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9xT8DHOZFE
Corn is a fine adjunct in beer.

And don't buy stale beer.

Offline 802Chris

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Re: Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire - not taking off!
« Reply #24 on: February 21, 2018, 09:00:26 am »
It does seem that way. I appreciate everybody restoring my confidence here. This is only my third brew and I really want it to come out as good as my first two. As I become more seasoned, is there a type of FV that is reasonably priced but more effective in means of sealing than a bucket?  Because I know that when this happens again I’m going to worry just as much!

Carboys, glass or otherwise, tend to seal up better. Brew Buckets from SS Brewtech seem to be the best route to a stainless fermenter.

Or just find a nice quite place and leave the lid off the beer, 1469 is my favorite strain and I intend to open ferment it/top crop it next time around.

Check this out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9xT8DHOZFE

Just a quick note, and not to derail... I use a brew bucket and I have never seen it hold enough of a seal to show airlock activity. I have resorted to lifting the lid 1 or 2 days into fermentation, and have luckily seen a nice healthy krausen every time.

Offline klickitat jim

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Re: Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire - not taking off!
« Reply #25 on: February 23, 2018, 09:08:07 am »
A week and two days... mine still have a thick creamy cap. I'm not disturbing them except for a quick peek under the foil caps. I'm just going to let them be and see how long until they drop clear on their own.

Offline Phil_M

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Re: Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire - not taking off!
« Reply #26 on: February 24, 2018, 09:00:10 pm »
A week and two days... mine still have a thick creamy cap. I'm not disturbing them except for a quick peek under the foil caps. I'm just going to let them be and see how long until they drop clear on their own.

That cap isn't going to drop in my experience, unless you cold crash. Even then results aren't guaranteed.

1469 is the most top-cropping top-cropper I've found. The beer will clear nicely under that krausen/barm cap, but that cap doesn't want to go anywhere.
Corn is a fine adjunct in beer.

And don't buy stale beer.

Offline klickitat jim

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Re: Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire - not taking off!
« Reply #27 on: February 24, 2018, 09:06:26 pm »
Interesting. I'll give as long as I can stand it. Wont have time to brew for a couple more weeks anyway.

Offline CranjisMcBasketball

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Re: Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire - not taking off!
« Reply #28 on: February 24, 2018, 09:16:37 pm »
A week and two days... mine still have a thick creamy cap. I'm not disturbing them except for a quick peek under the foil caps. I'm just going to let them be and see how long until they drop clear on their own.

That cap isn't going to drop in my experience, unless you cold crash. Even then results aren't guaranteed.

1469 is the most top-cropping top-cropper I've found. The beer will clear nicely under that krausen/barm cap, but that cap doesn't want to go anywhere.

Primary fermentation has completely finished, bottoming out at 1.004, producing a slightly higher ABV than what I expected, but flavors seem on point.  However, just like you stated, this cap is thick and doesn't seem to be going anywhere.  I had plans to bottle it on Saturday.  From your experience, do you think I should cold crash it before bottling, or should I be okay?

Offline Phil_M

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Re: Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire - not taking off!
« Reply #29 on: February 25, 2018, 08:05:19 pm »
I usually just rack out from under the cap. I'll move it out of the chest freezer where I ferment, let it sit so anything I disturbed in the move can settle out, then rack to the keg. (Or cask, on occasion.)
Corn is a fine adjunct in beer.

And don't buy stale beer.