Fermentaion with a yeast starter

[Peacemaker]

I made a Black IPA, I made a yeast starter and the temp of my starter was 80F after removing it from the stir plate. My wort after chilling was about 65F. I placed my Erlenmeyer flask of yeast starter in some cool water to bring it a little closer to the wort temp. I oxygenated my wort & pitched my yeast. I have seen no active fermentation after 4 days. Can I add a yeast nutrient or do something else ensure a proper & complete fermentation?

 

[kiwifirst]

Hi Peacemaker, hopefully this isn't telling you to 'suck eggs'; but are you sure your yeast starter actually 'started'?

I recently had a pilsner yeast on the stir plate and there was a foamy head on the wort for a couple of days of stirring, but when I turned it off and checked the FG it was still at the SG. They foamy head was just from the spinning motion. I assumed it was ready to pitch and fortunately for me I wasn't pitching that day as I was only doing the first step in a two step starter.

Apologies if I am stating an obvious, but checking your starter FG was never an obvious for me.

Cheers

 

[Peacemaker]

I'm actually not really sure. I've always just made a starter & never took a gravity of my starter. Never had a problem in the past. I just tried to take a gravity reading & the wort is thick almost like a shake. The hydrometer just sticks basically in the slurry. My wort temp was only around 60-62F. I'm wondering if that is the majority of my problem. I put a heat belt on the fermenter, hopefully that'll bring the temp up

 

[kiwifirst]

I know that I have had issues with making starters in the shed at ambient temp then dropping them to ferment at a lower temp seems to stall them. I think the last was where my temp in the shed was around 24c and I was brewing at 20c. I warmed the wort up to 24c and the yeast kicked in and I lowered it 1c a day to my 20c.