How long before repitching?

How long of no activity do you go before repitching?
I pitched White Labs tube of English Ale (WLP002) on a batch of Mild yesterday (saturday) about noon. There is no activity as of 10pm Sunday (34 hours). How long should I give it. The yeast was fresh, expiration August 07. I pitched at about 80F so temp was good. It has been in a 65F room since then.
This is my second time using a White Labs tube, the first time the tube had a lot of pressure when I opened it. This time there was very little pressure or bubbling when I opened the tube. I'm concerned the yeast may not have been very viable.

Craig

My last one took 3 days to start off. Give it some time and make sure the temps are right.

I know you guys hear this all the time.....

but if you start to make starters prior to pitching, the lag time is only ~5-6 hours. And you already know if the yeast is viable or not.

It takes such a small amount of prep work to make a starter 3-4 days before. And then there is no worrying about having to repitch.

Never had one take more than 65 hours (liquid, no starter). If I don't see any activity by the fourth day I'll throw in some dry yeast.

Starters are great, but for me? It takes up to 9 days to get my ingredients in the mail and IM READY TO BREW by then. Tough to wait another 3 days before brewing.

I know its been said before to make a starter and now I see why they are suggested. However in this case I was making a Mild. And based on the comments from the Jamil Show it seems he suggests that making a starter would be over pitching the beer. Plus my last experience with using WLP002 was very good with just pitching the tube.

My next beer with liquid yeast I will use a starter.

Craig

So it looks like most are saying give it one or two more days. I won't be far from the HBS this afternoon so I may pick up an extra vial just incase. I just hate to spend $7 on yeast I might not need. If this batch takes off I probably won't use the yeast before expiration.

Craig

i always make a starter, so if i don't see some action in 36 hours, i'm re-pitching. of course, if my starter is going good it's never a problem anyway.

and seefresh, starters only take 24 hours...why do you have to wait 3 days?

CBBaron said:

I know its been said before to make a starter and now I see why they are suggested. However in this case I was making a Mild. And based on the comments from the Jamil Show it seems he suggests that making a starter would be over pitching the beer. Plus my last experience with using WLP002 was very good with just pitching the tube.

My next beer with liquid yeast I will use a starter.

Craig

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My understanding is that it is almost impossible to over pitch just by making a quart starter from a vial or smack pack. Maybe if you went bananas and stepped it up a bunch, or pitched a quart of slurry, but not by just making a starter.

TheJadedDog said:

My understanding is that it is almost impossible to over pitch just by making a quart starter from a vial or smack pack. Maybe if you went bananas and stepped it up a bunch, or pitched a quart of slurry, but not by just making a starter.

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I guess Jamil did not say over pitch. From memory he recommended using a lower pitching rate to achieve a lower attenuation. This was important to get a full bodied beer with a low OG. My Mild was a 1.035 OG so maybe the slow start is a good thing for the best beer.

Still I am going to check on the fermenter once I get home this evening. If its not bubbling I'm going to pick up a new vial of yeast and pitch it.

From now on I'm going to be doing starters just to prevent the worry.

Craig

Got a pretty nice bell curve going on there!

seefresh said:

Starters are great, but for me? It takes up to 9 days to get my ingredients in the mail and IM READY TO BREW by then. Tough to wait another 3 days before brewing.

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You don't have to wait 3 days. Make one the day you get your stuff and you'd be ready to go the next day.

Nice Gaussian curve on the results there. Three days seems to be the consensus.
Or just pitch healthy yeast and RDWHAHB.

I guess consensus is 3 days and it appears that consensus is correct. At 10pm this evening (Monday) there is bubbling in the airlock. That is 57 hours (2days +9 hours) after pitching. I checked at 5pm this afternoon and there was evidence of positive pressure but it was not quite bubbling yet. So it looks like we are good to go.

Hopefully this doesn't result in a slow ferment as I had planned on dumping a porter on the cake on Friday. Probably not a problem but if its still bubbling then I will have to figure something out, the vacation is already planned.

Craig