How long before it's officially a Stuck Fermentation? - Page 2

Beerdrop · 03-26-2009, 09:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by llazy_llama

I'm also curious to know what the fermentation temperature was/is. I recently pitched a beer onto a yeast cake large enough that it should have been going crazy within 12 hours. I didn't see any activity until day 3, and it didn't get violent until day 4. My temps was about 63 degrees.

Thanks - Thought of that too. First 24 hours I had it in my crawlspace in the basement which is probably closer to 63 deg. For the next day and a half, I took it out into my basement which is at 70 deg.

Beerdrop · 03-26-2009, 09:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheJadedDog

Sounds to me like you had a long lag, most likely due to older yeast and the lack of a starter. For a higher gravity beer, a starter is definitely recommended to reduce this lag time. You may also have some lag issues due to poor aeration as others have mentioned.

I wouldn't worry quite yet, I've had beers lag for over a week.

Thanks - agreed I was lazy on the starter and my next Belgium experiment I won't make the same mistake! I definitely made a good attempt to aerate, so I don't think that was a contributing factor...

Beerdrop · 03-26-2009, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheJadedDog

That's true, but based on when he pitched the coopers and when he saw activity, I'd venture that the activity he saw was due to the original yeast and the coopers will kick in shortly themselves.

Sorry if I was a little confusing. I opened on hour 60 to see some foam (not even covering the entire wort from the original yeast pitching. I THEN added the Coopers. By Thursday morning (24 hours after the re-pitch), my fermentator was bubbling nicely!

Vic_Sinclair · 03-26-2009, 11:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beerdrop

Ehh, er, no - That would have been a good idea. Don't think it changed much based on the lack of airlock activity

Airlock activity is terrible thing to look at. For all you know, you had a bad seal. Happens all the time. In fact, bad seals happen far more often than (real) stuck fermentations.

Beerdrop · 03-27-2009, 12:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheJadedDog

Sounds to me like you had a long lag, most likely due to older yeast and the lack of a starter. For a higher gravity beer, a starter is definitely recommended to reduce this lag time. You may also have some lag issues due to poor aeration as others have mentioned.

I wouldn't worry quite yet, I've had beers lag for over a week.

So I guess the answer is wait up to a week? I assume the risk of other things fermenting your beer goes up with time, but I tend to do a fairly good job of sanitizing on brewday. Thanks for the info.