Yeast Starter....Not Starting

[Vertumnus]

So I decided to make up my first batch of skeeter pee on 04/30. Made it up following the recipe exactly except for the fact that it's initial SG was 1.060 (recipe calls for 1.070) and so I added 2 1/3 cups of sugar slowly stirred in to raise it to 1.070. I also splashed the lemon juice in my bucket around before adding the other ingredients to try to get the sulphides out.

Anyways, I decided to make a yeast starter in a jar w/ about 700 ml spring water, 2tbsp sugar, and 1/2tsp nutrient. Put a paper towel on it with a mason jar lid and left it in a semi-warm dark place. When I came back to it about 7 1/2 hours, it seemed to be bubbly and frothy with approx 1/2 inch of lees at the bottom. Following the instructions I saw somewhere on this site, I then added two wine thieves-ful of must as well as 1/4tsp energizer (energizer was my own addition). Wrapped it in a sock and put it in dark place. Now, it's 8 or 9 hours later and when I went to check on it, it seems to have died or something. Much less activity, a couple bubbles here and there on the surface. The jar is cool to the touch. Looks like more lees on the bottom. I added 1tbsp of sugar and 1/2tsp of nutrient and put in a warm bath of water to maybe save it.

Any other advice for trying to resurrect this thing or why it may not be working?

*Edit* Also should mention yeast is EC-1118

 

[Vertumnus]

Probably should add that the must added was probably in the range of a 1/2-2/3 cup or so

 

[BernardSmith]

I ask this out of ignorance and not knowledge so there is no irony intended but might the active yeast not be in the lees rather than the liquid? I thought the idea of washing yeast (I realize that you are not talking about washing but about rehydrating) involved adding water to the lees and then allowing the particulates to settle and then discarding the liquid - leaving only enough liquid to enable the "lees" to be poured. By discarding the "lees" you may have in fact discarded the yeast.

My own very limited experience with washing yeast was to wash lees I had collected from several batches of hard cider I had made over this winter. This washed yeast I pitched (April 10) into a must of lemon juice to make my first batch of Skeeter Pee and that SP was still bubbling away May 1.

For my recycled yeast, I discarded the liquid and used what beer makers tend to refer to as the yeast cake - mine was no cake - more a very thin porridge... so the "lees" were where my yeast had flocculated. But I may be very wrong...

 

[Vertumnus]

Some pictures to aid in analysis. The first is after the first phase before the addition of the must. The two after are the more recent with decreased bubble cover. The last shows the lees at the bottom. I thought that the starter was supposed to be actively frothing, perhaps even a cap already forming?

*Edit* Actually the second photo is in the midst of the warm water bath. The activity there is actually more, approximately 50%, than before the water bath.

 

[Deezil]

To make a starter..

You want about 1-cup of warm/room temperature water.
It can even still be in the measuring cup - a glass one

Sprinkle the yeast on top so it forms a thin layer, not clumping and falling to the bottom. Give it 15 minutes to soak in water and fall on its own. After the 15 minutes, it should all be on the bottom of the cup/jar. Give it a light swirl/stir, and let it rest another 5-10 minutes.

The individual 'clumps' should start to rise and fall on their own. Then, to this 1-cup of liquid, add 1/2-cup of your 'must' - the wine you're starting. You want to wait on adding the yeast nutrient to your must, until after you pitch the yeast, because really, if you use any nutrient during rehydration, you want it to be designed for rehydration - like Go-Ferm.

Then you'll have 1 1/2-cups of liquid, 1/3 of which, is your must. After 15-30 minutes, the yeast should start to form that 'cap' that you're looking for.. At which point you can add another 1/2-cup of must to the starter, making the ratio of water to must, 1:1.

The idea is to gradually acclimate the yeast to the conditions of the must.. Slowly altering the sugar, acidity and nutrient levels.. Then when the ratio is 1:1, you can pitch the starter into the must, and add the yeast nutrient shortly afterward

 

[Vertumnus]

Thanks for the recipe! Saved and noted for next time!

 

[Vertumnus]

Looks like I had little reason to worry; I cast my starter jar into the must yesterday and today the whole thing was merrily bubbling away. Now my main concern is whether my six-gallon bucket may overflow when the cap grows a little bigger. Not to mention in a couple days when the recipe calls to add the last bottle of lemon juice, the must is already almost at the rim of the bucket!