No Krausen on my starter after 7 days

[Swifty]

I got given a starter from the HBS for free as it's use by date was Feb 11th 08, made starter by boiling 100g LDME with 1 litre of water cooling and adding that and Whitelabs California ale WLP051 into 2L container. Only airlock movement was when it was picked up and stirred. No krausen though and it's about 7 days later. Of all the info I've read I thought the yeast would be ok but take a while to get going but it doesn't seem to have done anything at all. Been sitting at about 16-18 degrees. Should I wait and take a Hydro as I haven't yet or give up? I wouldn't think it would finish without some sort of Krausen. There's a very small amount of condensaiton on the bottle but not much. Any idea's?

[Lachy]

It does sound that it might be a dead yeast... personally, I would have thought that a week should be enough time to culture a yeast from the dregs of a bottle, let alone from a starter. 16-18 degrees C is towards the cool side for an ale yeast to grow (although optimum for fermentation purposes). At this stage, I'd say you've got nothing to lose by increasing the temperature to say, low-mid 20's, and to see if you get any action. If you've got a sterile airstone and a good O2 supply, you could try oxygenating the starter to perk up the yeast and do some "yeast CPR", but I suspect there's an equal chance of introducing an infection.

[rwh]

Sounds like it should either be finished or dead. How much yeast is sedimented on the bottom? There should be a reasonable layer by now if it's finished. Your other option is to give it a taste. If it's sweet then it hasn't fermented. If it tastes watery and yeasty then it's done.

[Swifty]

Is there any use taking a Hydro?
It's in a softdrink bottle and in the "feet" of the bottle is about 15mm of yeast sediment. When swirling it hasn't really picked it all up either and it seems kinda caked there.

[drsmurto]

check using a refractometer..

I paid for smack packs from September last year

They took their time but did swell up slightly and then went into a starter and took off after a day or 2.

[rwh]

If there is 15 mm of sediment in the feet I would be very surprised if it just hasn't fermented out totally. Sounds like a lot of sediment to me, anyway. How much did it foam up when you mixed it up?

[James L]

i'm doind CPR on a cal lager that i got from a mate that should've been used about this time last year... i think i might take some time, but i suppose you only need one alive to get it going....

[Swifty]

I don't really remember it foaming up when I mixed it but I did swirl the tube to get the sediment out and when I opened the tube it foamed out the top and I did loose some. There is more sediment in the feet than was in the tube as far as I can remember though. I will take a hydro reading tonight and bottle. I guess I'll find out when I make a starter whether it is ok or not. I just thought that there should've been some sort of Krausen, there is condensation on the bottle but there wasn't any airlock movement except when I moved the bottle. Considering it was free I guess I haven't wasted money.

[rwh]

I'd step it up again. Pop it in the fridge to drop out the yeast, pour off the "beer" and then pitch it into a new starter. That should tell you whether it's viable or not!