Ahoy-hoy-
I’ve got a bit of a situation that I’d like to run by you all. There’s a five gallon batch in the other room that has me worried. Most threads like this get responses suggesting that the worried party should be patient, etc., but I’m now that worried party and it’s no party at all.
The Conundrum:
I brewed six batches of the same recipe six brew days in a row. I’m an all-grain brewer and my numbers were consistent from day to day leaving me with a gravity, going into each respective primary, of 1.059. Each batch was treated to its own 650ml starter prepared the day before according to Northern Brewer’s freely available .pdf. Each starter was born of a newly purchased vial of 001 that was allowed to sit out in a kitchen cabinet for several hours to reach room temperature. Each starter and all of the primaries reside in a small “2nd bedroom” (read: office) in my Brooklyn apartment with a dedicated AC unit ensuring that the room stays at 70 degrees.
Starter #4 didn’t have much going when it came time to pitch. I don’t have a stir plate but I had been regularly swirling the contents of the flask as I have done with success in the past. It smelled fine when it came time to pitch, so believing it to be a mysteriously slow starting starter, I pitched it anyway and went about being patient, etc., for about two and a half days. When still nary a bubble of telltale CO2 had been seen, I brought out another virgin vial of 001 to warm up and then pitched later afternoon. The next morning, batch #4 was bubbling along with its siblings.
Starter #6 was familiar in its inactivity so I broke out another vial of 001 when I started brewing that morning (in case my worry wasn’t allayed by pitch time). It wasn’t, so I pitched the starter and the room temp vial and figured I was surely safe. Well, it’s now 60 or so hours later and it’s calm waters in that carboy.
What’s that about? Is there anything to do? Does another vial get tossed in, good (presumably) after bad?
One of the exciting things about brewing with a starter has been the diminished lag time between pitching and the fireworks. I welcomed my first blow-overs and adopted the blow-off tube with the joy unknowable to those who don’t brew. But this… this is maddening as I’m using words like “mysteriously” to explain what should be relatively reliable procedure.
I do apologize if this is old hat to you all but I figured I should ask those with more experience than I. This particular brew project has got me thinking about all sorts of Brauhaus changes… For example: As someone who has never kegged, would that simplify or complicate life when it comes time to serving these 30 gallons? But that’s a question for another thread.
The six batches are being brewed for an event coming up on 11}11. I figured I’d brew as many batches as I could ferment to both learn what there is to learn from day-to-day brewing as well as ensure that there would be plenty of beer no matter what might go wrong.
Any advice or anecdotes will be appreciated!
Best to you and your brew-
Pull