Star San in fermentation bucket

2323 · 06-24-2008, 02:29 AM

Hello, I pitched my yeast about 20 hours ago and still yet to see any fermentation activity. I am worried that the 3 gallons of Sar Stan I left soaking in the fementation bucket for an hour may have killed the yeast. Is that possible?

RICLARK · 06-24-2008, 02:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2323

Hello, I pitched my yeast about 20 hours ago and still yet to see any fermentation activity. I am worried that the 3 gallons of Sar Stan I left soaking in the fementation bucket for an hour may have killed the yeast. Is that possible?

you didnt put the wort on top of the star san did you? if you didn't its fine star san is no rinse.

2323 · 06-24-2008, 02:33 AM

I dumped the Star San before introducing the wort to the bucket.

RICLARK · 06-24-2008, 02:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2323

I dumped the Star San before introducing the wort to the bucket.

It will be just fine, I have had batches lag out for 72 hours before kicking off. If it still hasn't started in a week you can pitch some new dry yeast, but wait it out.

Professor Frink · 06-24-2008, 02:37 AM

Did you make a starter?

2323 · 06-24-2008, 02:46 AM

I did not make a starter. This is my first attempt at home brewing.

I am fairly confident I did not aerate the wort sufficiently before pitching the liquid yeast. I also had my fermentation temp a little low at 65 degrees. After looking at WhiteLabs site and their recommendation of 68-75 for California yeast, I raised the temp to 70 and removed the lid and aerated with an aeration stone while sanitizing everything I touched. I made that decision as I had yet to see any signs of fermentation.

RICLARK · 06-24-2008, 03:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2323

I did not make a starter. This is my first attempt at home brewing.

I am fairly confident I did not aerate the wort sufficiently before pitching the liquid yeast. I also had my fermentation temp a little low at 65 degrees. After looking at WhiteLabs site and their recommendation of 68-75 for California yeast, I raised the temp to 70 and removed the lid and aerated with an aeration stone while sanitizing everything I touched. I made that decision as I had yet to see any signs of fermentation.

You really should make a starter with liquid yeast, it should be fine but it will most likely lag for a while.

sigmund · 06-24-2008, 11:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2323

I did not make a starter. This is my first attempt at home brewing.

I am fairly confident I did not aerate the wort sufficiently before pitching the liquid yeast. I also had my fermentation temp a little low at 65 degrees. After looking at WhiteLabs site and their recommendation of 68-75 for California yeast, I raised the temp to 70 and removed the lid and aerated with an aeration stone while sanitizing everything I touched. I made that decision as I had yet to see any signs of fermentation.

Aereation is not required for your yeast to kick off fermentation, in fact, some folks do none with no issues (I've done it both ways and haven't really seen any difference). Next time, you'd be better off just letting everything sit while the temp comes up rather than possibly introducing nasties to your beer.

**Revvy** · 06-24-2008, 01:27 PM

First off any Star San left in the fermentor actually become yeast food.

Secondly, There really are no "signs of fermentation" if you are using a bucket...i.e. you can't see the krauzen forming and falling...

If you are referring to airlock bubbling, get out of the mindset that that equals fermentation, or you will be stressing out over nothing.

Bubbling or lack of in the airlock is not a good indication of fermentation occuring...If that's what you mean by "no signs of fermentation," then it could (and probably is happening) and you aren't even aware of it...There's way too many variables that can come into play in terms of airlock bubbling to use that as an indicator.

So many new brewers don't get bubbling and panic and want to repitch the yeast...when it turns out that everything is copacetic.

You could have for example and bad seal between the grommet (or stopper) and the airlock, or the lid on the bucket isn't fully tight and gas is getting out elsewhere besides the airlock, or the stopper and mouth of the carboy and that would appear slow, while fermentaion is actually occuring rapidly... Or the little bubbler in the airlock could be sitting a little crooked, or become weighted down with tiny co2 bubbles and need to build up a good head of gas before blurping again.

Even having the airlock leaning slightly askew affects it.

So as you can see airlock activity varies, and should not be used a a sign of speed or lack of fermentation.

I have had beers that fermented beautifully without one bubble in the airlock, and I have had others that sounded like a machine gun from the get go, and I have had others that needed a blow off tube...each beer is different....

You can't assume anything with beer...except that the yeast know what they are doing, since they've been doing it for several thousands of years, and it is really hard to ruin beer.

The airlock is just that, an airlock that attempts to release the pressure of CO2 without letting anything in....But for the above reasons it isn't the greatest tool in the world.

If you are brewing in a carboy, you can see the activity that you wouldn't get to see without openning the bucket.

The hydrometer is the only true indication of fermentation, and since it has only been a few hours it's waaaayyyy to soon to be taking one.

Thirdly, fermentation can take up to 3 days to start. There's a sticky expalining this in the beginner's forum. http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/fermentation-can-take-24-72-hrs-show-visible-signs-43635/

There's actually another great thread I'd recommend you read. http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/stone-cold-lead-pipe-lockd-n00b-advice-54362/

This is where patience and trust comes in...trusting that the yeast know what they're doing (which they do, they've been doing it for several thousands of years.)