4th day and no action

I think I made a big mistake. I bought a Vienna Lager beer kit in December. Got to brewing it last week and noticed that the Brewferm Lager dry yeast had an expiration date of Jan 14. I brewed up the batch hydrated and pitched in the yeast. It's now going on the 4th day and I have no fermentation action what so ever. My question is can I pitch in some WLP800 lager yeast that I have on hand or do I continue to wait?

Thanks

What's the ambient temp in the room you're fermenting in?

Have you checked the gravity to confirm nothing is happening? I would do that before considering adding more yeast.

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I am using a controlled fermenter and the temp is 53° (lager temp)

are you sure the yeast was never exposed to temps above 120 degrees? (did you use HOT water to rehydrate??)

It came in a Kit. I hydrated it around 70° followed all directions. This is my first kit beer. I been all grain brewing for last 2 years and decided to finally do a kit. Also brewed some back in the 70's. this is the first time I had this happen.

do you have an oxygen setup? if it was me i would probably pump it with oxygen and maybe pitch a vial

FRS said:

Have you checked the gravity to confirm nothing is happening? I would do that before considering adding more yeast.

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Click to expand...

+1

Hydrometer is the best check on fermentation aside from a visual observation checking for bubbling or krausen formation.

Gently pop the lid and slide it off the bucket, see if you are getting any visual activity and take a sample.



bosco

OK, I removed the lid and saw no action. I took a gravity reading and it was 1.045 the same as it was 4 days ago. So I decided to re-pitch a vial of WLP-800 that I had on a starter since yesterday. I also used my oxygen areator to help get it started. Thanks for all the advice. I will post again in a couple days and let you know my outcome. Moral of story, I should have listened to John Palmer's advice and through away the packet yeast and use fresh yeast.

Pitch more yeast. If I don't see activity / krausen by end of day 3 for a lager, I'd pitch more yeast. I make lots of lagers and it is not unusual to wait 3 days for activity. By then, though, I see yeast rafts starting to form on the top of the beer. It's a good idea to have some dry yeast around just for this purpose (I like W34/60 for lagers).

Regarding the hydrometer, of course that is a good idea, but the krausen and bubbling airlock are my indicators. I've made enough beer to know what to expect, at least with my equipment.

I have about 250 gallons of all grain beer under my belt and this is the first time I had this problem. I have at least 16 vials of yeast on hand. I always use a starter a day or two before I brew. But as I said above this is my first Homebrew KIT. I used the packet of Brewferm Lager (dry yeast) from the kit. I followed all the directions as per say. I will re-post in a day or two and update my results. I re-pitched new fresh yeast and aerated it.

Thanks for the help!

UPDATE:End of day 5 and I finally have yeast working. It's bubbling fairly good. Glad I pitched that fresh yeast. Thanks for all the help!

Three days now since I re-pitched more yeast. Looks like she is really working now. I will keep an eye on it for the next 7 to 14 days. Thanks for all the info!