Charlottesville Area Masters of Real Ale

Hey all - I'm looking for some advice.

Sunday afternoon I brewed a batch of Pale Ale and pitched the Wyeast Smackpack Whitbread Ale Yeast.  I was not very patient after 5 hours of brewing and probably pitched the yeast before the wort was cool enough.  It was about ~85 degrees at that point - it was hot, it looked like it was going to rain, the kids and wife were hounding me to cook dinner, etc.

So all week I've been waiting for fermentation to begin - seeing only "clumps" of yeast collecting on the sides of the carboy.  By Wednesday evening, I decided I was going to re-pitch the yeast.

After ordering new yeast to be delivered Friday, I checked on the carboy last night - to find the damn thing starting to ferment (figures) at 72 degrees.  It's not an awe inspiring krausen, but there.

Do I pitch more yeast or let it go?  Perhaps wait and see how it does and then rack it to a secondary?

Advice anyone?

Take a gravity reading.  It could have just had a "quiet" fermentation.  If it hasn't fermented at all give it a good rock to rouse the yeast and leave it be for another couple of days.  85 degrees is not hot enough to kill the yeast.  My first batch I pitched yeast around 90ish degrees and it finished overnight.  I didn't even see the fermentation.

That is an interesting question.

Definitely follow Peter's advice and siphon a little off for a gravity reading, but I'm willing to bet you are still really close to your original gravity.

My first thought it to let it go for a while and see what it does.  If it is fermenting, then it is fermenting, so no need to dump new yeast on the old.

But the yeast did go a long time before showing signs of fermentation.  The first yeast you used is probably gonna be pretty stressed.  (Purposely stressing yeast is a technique used by brewers on occasion, but it can go distastefully wrong.)  If you ordered a yeast that you can use in the coming months, then you might want to let this one go as is.  The time between Sunday and Thursday is a long time, and your batch could be a lost cause because of the lag. 

But if the Whitbread yeast is going to sit around for a long time, you might want to throw it in there (sooner than later) to help out the old yeast (which has already had a rough time of it) and hopefully avoid those stressed flavors that it might impart.

I am curious to hear from others.

At this point, of my late reply, you have probably already made a decision.  What was it?  I would have let the beer ferment and see how it turns out.

The fermentation continues, so I've decided to be wild and let it ride.  I'll take a gravity reading tomorrow to get a read on how it is progressing.

I did read a note from Wyeast stating yeast packs of greater age tend to start fermentation slower than fresher packets.  I did not note or keep the Smack Pack on the original pitch, but I noticed the replacement yeast pack I ordered from Midwest is from April.  I'm theorizing (since I'm using Whitebread Ale yeast, which I'm guessing is not the best seller) the yeast may have been a bit dated.

I'll post an update after the gravity checks...

Gravity is at 1.012 and steady two days in a row.  It won't be a high alcohol content, but it should work.  I'm bottling tonight.

Thanks for the responses.
Will

I don't think you posted your OG, but a FG of 1.012 for a APA seems very reasonable to me.

Let me know how it turns out.

jb