Been making starters for a couple years. Always had great results. Last time I brewed I used wlp004. This time wy2124. Using the same process as always. 004 was reharvested, 2124 was a fresh pack. The batches of 004 showed nothing and I was finally able to get s04 dry yeast to it, but it was too late. 72 hours. Beer was undrinkable. With the 2124 I repitched 34/70 at 48 hours. Both started fermenting after repitch within 12 hours. I use 1 3/4 cup dme to 1800 ml of water. I split that amount between two ales and use one starter per lager. The only change was I started using pbw instead of one step. I make my starters 24 hours in advance of pitching. Any ideas on why the sudden issues started showing up?
If all the starters failed that were made from that batch of wort, then it is likely that the issue lies with the starter wort itself. Did you check the temp before pitching? If not, is there any chance that the starter was too hot and scalded the yeast when you added it?
Is that 1 and 3/4 cup or 3/4 cup? 1 and 3/4 cup seems too high OG. Though still not sure that is your problem.
Could just be coincidence and both of your yeasts were DOA before pitched into the starter. Or, as mentioned, if you are pitching the yeast it wort over 110°F you could be killing the yeast.
Chilled to 70 before adding yeast. Starters were made at different times with the same bag of dme
What was the OG of the starter? I do mine by weight and not sure if you are saying 1 and 3/4 cup or 3/4 cup. Regardless, you want a starter OG of about 1.020-1.030 (.040 at the highest) though, still, a high gravity starter won’t kill your yeast.
This is probably just coincidental bad luck, both pitches were dead for some reason before they got pitched. Perhaps the froze? were old? Handled improperly in some way? I have had a few starter fail over the years. Not many but it does sometimes happen.
1 and 3/4 cup. Sorry for the confusion.