TDirgins

Recipes 

This thread cracks me up. I brewed White House Honey Porter from a kit on Saturday around noon. (this is my third brew) Pitched and placed my fermentation bucket in a swamp cooler since my basement is a little warm. No activity as of 9 p.m. last night. (57 hours). Started reading this thread to convinve myself not to panic. Gave the bucket a little rock and apparently unleashed Mt Vesuvius! Air Lock immediately filled with amber-y goodness and the excess threatened to blow off the airlock (and the lid).

My advice, like many others: be patient!

MattsFlyShop

Recipes 

I did a Brown Ale on Sunday Night (first brew in 20+ years), I started the Yeast as directed, and in as little as an hour I had bubbles, now at 36 Hrs, still a bubble every second to a second and a half, the fermenter was at 65* last night when I lasered it. I have about a half inch to an inch of foam on top, and the escaping gasses smell like good beer, I am so glad I picked this hobby back up!

bleme

Recipes 

The airlock is a poor measure in a carboy but you can't go by it at all in a bucket. Too much gas escapes around the lid. Glad it worked out for you!

Ogri

Recipes 

Having a bit of a crisis myself right now. Brewed an IPA on Sunday. Partial boil, cooled off to about 74-75F and pitched yeast, S-04, put into swamp cooler, next morning temp was 60-62F and no signs of fermentation or any krauzen. Been pretty much the same through to this morning, wednesday. Tried warming it up a little yesterday and the fermometer on the bucket was showing 62-64F and, again, no real signs of action so this morning I turned up the electric blanket type thing wrapped around the fermenter a bit higher and warmed it up a bit more, maybe around 66F. Left it with a blanket for insulation over the top and turned off the heat. Hoping that there's some action started when I get back this evening or I'm going to consider re-pitching.

Really hoping that, now I've written this in this thread, when I get home tonight it's going ballistic and the fermenter temp is still around the mid 60s

BierMuncher

Recipes 

I found a long time ago that hydrating my yeast (S-04) at the beginning of my brew session in lukewarm water, made a HUGE difference in the fermentation reaction time. Session ale or Double IPA alike, hydrating those yeast cells with clean warm water plumps them up nicely and gets them ready to tackle those sugars. Kind of like stretching a balloon before you blow it up.

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Ogri

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Have always had pretty spectacular krauzen action from anywhere within 8 to 24 hours, maybe once it took about 48 before taking off like a rocket, until this. When I got home last night it had actually started getting a very light sprinkling of krauzen forming. It's still the least dynamic attenuation I've ever witnessed, so far. I've got the fermenter sitting at 64-66F right now and I'd imagine that when I get home tonight things might well be starting to rock and roll in a manner that I'm more familiar with regards krauzen. Still, 4 whole days in and I'd bet it hasn't even attenuated a 1/10th of what it should eventually. At least the temps are low so I can always raise them bit by bit.

Previously just sprinkled my dry yeast on top and then mixed in whilst aerating. Think I'll give rehydrating a shot in my next brew, either that or just go the whole hog and do a starter. I know most people use DME for their starters, but is regular cane sugar and water inadvisable to use as a starter wort??

bleme

Recipes 

Never do a starter on dry yeast. If MrMalty suggests more than 1 pack, just buy another pack. Dry yeast is packaged at its peak so making a starter with them will actually deplete their reserves.

MattsFlyShop

Recipes 

After 4 days the English Brown Ale has stopped perculating, and is holding a steady pressure keeping the airlock on it's toes... I might let it sit for another week or I might transfer it into a Secondary on Sunday when I brew a Belgian Wheat, it all depends on if there's some pressure in the fermenter still. Of one thing I'm sure; I'm a lot more patient this time around than when I tried this 20 years ago... and those Beers were fantastic... I can only imagine how these are going to turn out, I fear that tmy first rewarding swallow will turn my lovely Bride into a Homebrew Widow...

Ogri

Recipes 

Thanks for the heads up. I'll just try re-hydrating and pitch.

BTW, the current batch finally took off. So that took from Sunday afternoon to Wednesday evening, a little longer than 72 hours, to show even the slightest signs of progress but last night, Thursday, I got home and was treated to a full krauzen of about 3 or 4 inches deep covering the surface in the bucket. Fermometer holding steady at 64 to 66F.

JKaranka

Recipes 

Hah, I have to remember that before doing anything, just make sure your bung is tight! Got to the point of pitching a tad more yeast with some sugar solution only to realise that all the activity had slightly dislodged the bung and therefore the airlock wasn't bubbling...