Where are my flaws?

Hello, this is my first actual post on hbt. I need some advice or guidance from you fellow home brewers.

I made a batch of German style dark last night. It was a kit, and everything was textbook up until I transferred the wort into a carboy. First issue was temp, I used a copper wort chiller to cool it. I thought my temp was around 80 degrees but when I transferred it to carboy it was coming in at 90. I really wanted it to cool down before I pitched my yeast for maximum environment.

I covered it with a sanitized towel and let it sit and cool down for about 30 minutes. It still was between 70 and 80 degrees after 30 but I needed to go to sleep so I went ahead and pitched it.

This morning I woke up and ran down to the basement to find my wort not active yet. So my question is did I screw it up by pitching out of the comfort zone?

My other issues are my yeast, I did not make a starter. I have in the past but thought that two vials of white labs would be enough. One of the vials expired in may, I figured I would use it since it was the same strain and it would only add more yeast to production. I do not know if I am going to have a slow start or not and that is really starting to bug me.

How long should I wait before I intervene with the current setup?

This is what I used,

True brew extract kit
plus I added
1# black malt
1# chocolate malt
1# dme

my OG was 1.06
I used 2 White Labs Abbey yeast vials.

I pitched around 0130 and it is now 0929 with no visible activity yet what should I do?

Just give it more time Pitching lower would have been better but it didn't kill your yeast. As long as the other vile wasn't expired you should have enough healthy yeast in there.

Wait, I think you are worrying for no reason, give it time. I think the temps were ok but don't use lquid yeast much. Others will chime in with good advice but I think it's too early too worry.

RDWHAHB..... Active may not show up for 2r hours or more. As was already said just give it time.

You're fine. If you pitched mid-70s, your yeast are fine. As for the lag time, don't fret. Its not unusual for it to take 24 -48 hours, sometimes more, to see visible signs of fermentation. The yeast are already busy, you just can't see it.

Pitching two vials is fine. It may have been a little under pitched compared to the optimum, but nothing to worry about.

I have never had problems with lag, so I guess I am just over reacting. I had a schedule and I guess the beer has its own schedule go figure!

In my experience White Lab yeast straight from the vial show a good amount of lag time. Be patient and give it more time, your temps are o.k.

OK so the wort is completely still, which is a first for me. At this point there is usually some kind of movement in the wort. If I re-pitch will it mess everything up since it will be a different yeast?

How long has it been since you pitched?

So how long has it been now, about 16 hours? I'd still give it more time... at least overnight

I pitched at 2:00 am. I am going to give it until at least tomorrow afternoon, if I see the wort moving around a little I may give it more time. Should I make a yeast starter with dry yeast in case I have to re-pitch

I brewed up a batch with an OG around 1.060 yesterday afternoon. Every other batch I've brewed before had noticeable fermentation activity within a few hours at the most. With this batch, I pitched the wort on top of part of a yeast cake left from a different batch. So, it's the first time I've done something out of my norm of using fresh yeast.

Last night I checked it and there was no activity at all. This morning I checked and still no activity. This afternoon I checked and still nothing. Then I posted something asking for advice. One person responded that I should wait, just as I expected. Then I went to look again, and there was krausen forming and the airlock was bubbling. It took about 22 hours for something noticeable to happen.

In other words, just RDWHAHB. The yeast will get working.

Try using Ice water when you top up next time it will bring your wort temp down a good deal

Joneszen said:

I pitched at 2:00 am. I am going to give it until at least tomorrow afternoon, if I see the wort moving around a little I may give it more time. Should I make a yeast starter with dry yeast in case I have to re-pitch

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Its not even close to time to worry about it, in my opinion. Sometimes doing nothing is the best practice and I think this is one of those times.

Pappers_ said:

Its not even close to time to worry about it, in my opinion. Sometimes doing nothing is the best practice and I think this is one of those times.

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That there's some good advice.

Thanks to everyone for their input, I am going to wait a few days before I try to do anything drastic. I was hoping to have this batch finished and kegged for next weekend but it just might have to wait.

Fermentation started today.....Yayyyyyyy! Still not that active but I am sure that it will pick up. Its at around 74 degrees sitting on the basement floor. Is this the ideal temp to start off at or should I place it in the ferm chamber which is currently set at 69-70 degrees?

I'd bring it to fermentation temps if you have signs of fermentation. That's not an expert opinion however.

Joneszen said:

Thanks to everyone for their input, I am going to wait a few days before I try to do anything drastic. I was hoping to have this batch finished and kegged for next weekend but it just might have to wait.

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You are expecting one week from pitch to glass?

Fermentation can take 48-72 HOURS to show signs of activity. I'd hate to point out the obvious, but there is a sticky on the Beginner's Forum for a reason.

That being said, bring it down to ferm temps and let it ride.

Kingfish said:

You are expecting one week from pitch to glass?

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Yea I wanted a quick beer, and put this together last minute in hopes that it would be ready. I have kegged beer before in a week and it turned out great. I know many like to age their beer in primary and secodary but you do not always have to do that necessarily.

What fermentation temps would you recommend for a dark ale? I would always let it go at whatever the room temp was in the basement but now that I have the ferm chamber I can maintain a specific temp.

Joneszen said:

What fermentation temps would you recommend for a dark ale? I would always let it go at whatever the room temp was in the basement but now that I have the ferm chamber I can maintain a specific temp.

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It's not so much the style of beer but the strain of yeast you are using and it's ideal temperature range so why don't you tell us what yeast you are using and fretting over and we can tell you or you can go to the manufacturer's website and find out yourself. Not trying to be harsh but you seem to be in a hurry and yeast when treated properly will do its job in its own time frame, not yours.

If you really want a fast beer then raise the temperature to say 80-90 and the yeast will go nuts and finish in a day but your beer will suck! If you want a great beer then relax, get the fermentation in the right place and leave things be......obviously I'm being a little snide and sarcastic so don't wig out, just take it as the joke it's meant to be.....

Next time you brew do your research ahead of time with the yeast so you have things planned out and know in advance what temperature you will be fermenting at. If you have a fermentation chamber already then you are ahead of the game so put it to good use and you will be rewarded with great beer!

I am using White Labs Abbey yeast, temperature ranges are between 66-72. It is at about 72 right now, I guess my question is how will it affect my beer at the lower range vs the higher? As far as planning goes I did throw this all together last minute. My main issues had to do with never having to wait more than a day to get activity.

Joneszen said:

I am using White Labs Abbey yeast, temperature ranges are between 66-72. It is at about 72 right now, I guess my question is how will it affect my beer at the lower range vs the higher? As far as planning goes I did throw this all together last minute. My main issues had to do with never having to wait more than a day to get activity.

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Whenever you ferment at the highest temperature of the given range you can assume you will get the most pronounced flavor profile of the strain. If that is desirable than you are fine, if you want less than you want to lower the temperature.

As for lag time, some yeast take off quickly others don't and the bigger the beer the longer they may take also dependent upon proper pitching rate, aeration, etc. I've had beers take off in as little as 6 hours and others that take up to 24 and I make proper starters and aerate with O2, it just depends