Bones
Member
Sorry about the novel, but I know how you guys like as much info as possible.
We brewed our second batch on Saturday morning and everything went well up until adding the yeast to the primary. Heres what weve got:
We used an ingredient kit that our LHBS is calling an English style Pale Ale. Its all LME with steeping grains. The boil went great. We cooled the wort by using a combination of dropping in about 6 cups of pre-sterilized ice and using an ice bath and were able to drop the temp from boiling to about 90 degrees in probably under 15 minutes and at that time the temperature drop had really slowed down. So we decided to add the wort to about 3-1/2 gallons of very cool water (approx. 50 degrees) in the primary. We have a little thermometer sticker on the side of our primary and after a good shake-up it registered at about 64 degrees.
We thought we were good to go until we read the yeast packet and it suggested pitching at 70-75 degrees (we had pitched or first batch with dry yeast at about 65 degrees and had no problems). But we figured we wouldnt have too much of a problem because we could let the yeast sit on the counter for a few hours at room temp. and continue to activate and assumed the wort would actually warm up a little bit as it sat since we had it so cold.
This was our first time using liquid yeast and it was a Wyeast Activator smack-pack, Im not sure about the size, but I think it was 125 mL. Im not 100% sure, but for the purposes of this discussion, I am going to assume that the packet inside the package is the yeast and the outer liquid was the starter sugar or extract.
First, I opened that packet and spilled a little, not a lot, couple drops. The packet had sort of a tear here notch in it, but that heavy duty packet didnt tear very well and a few drops splashed out as I was tearing it open. Im pretty sure this isnt a big deal but Im just letting you know all the details ..In the future, I will definitely be using a sterilized scissors.
Second, I didnt want to reach into the packet to take out the little yeast packet and risk contaminating the yeast, plus it was too big to fall into the primary when I was pouring anyway, so I wasnt concerned about it .so I poured the Activator in and when I pulled the yeast packet out to look at it I noticed that it appeared to be folded over and it was still half full of a fairly clear amber liquid (yeast?). The liquid that was dumped into the primary was thicker and looked more like light chocolate milk. I unfolded it and it appeared that there was sort of a seal right through the middle of it that didnt even look broken. Half the packet was empty with the end wide open while the other half of the packet was still full. Did only half the yeast packet smack open? We couldnt tell after our initial smack and it did swell a little bit, so we though we were good.
And finally, to complicate things, the wort never did really warm up, I pitched it at about 64 or 65 degrees and crossed my fingers. I was still hoping it would warm up a little bit and we had noticed with or first batch that during the early fermentation process that it appeared to be a exothermic and caused the temperature to rise. So I thought if it at least started, then it would warm itself up enough to propagate fermentation.
So, Ive got a brew sitting in the dark, with a blow-off tube (end submerged in water), at 64 degrees, and absolutely no activity ..no bubbling, no foam, no nuttin, and all the while weve had plenty of relaxation and home brews from our first batch. I am no longer relaxed.
So, what say ye??
We brewed our second batch on Saturday morning and everything went well up until adding the yeast to the primary. Heres what weve got:
We used an ingredient kit that our LHBS is calling an English style Pale Ale. Its all LME with steeping grains. The boil went great. We cooled the wort by using a combination of dropping in about 6 cups of pre-sterilized ice and using an ice bath and were able to drop the temp from boiling to about 90 degrees in probably under 15 minutes and at that time the temperature drop had really slowed down. So we decided to add the wort to about 3-1/2 gallons of very cool water (approx. 50 degrees) in the primary. We have a little thermometer sticker on the side of our primary and after a good shake-up it registered at about 64 degrees.
We thought we were good to go until we read the yeast packet and it suggested pitching at 70-75 degrees (we had pitched or first batch with dry yeast at about 65 degrees and had no problems). But we figured we wouldnt have too much of a problem because we could let the yeast sit on the counter for a few hours at room temp. and continue to activate and assumed the wort would actually warm up a little bit as it sat since we had it so cold.
This was our first time using liquid yeast and it was a Wyeast Activator smack-pack, Im not sure about the size, but I think it was 125 mL. Im not 100% sure, but for the purposes of this discussion, I am going to assume that the packet inside the package is the yeast and the outer liquid was the starter sugar or extract.
First, I opened that packet and spilled a little, not a lot, couple drops. The packet had sort of a tear here notch in it, but that heavy duty packet didnt tear very well and a few drops splashed out as I was tearing it open. Im pretty sure this isnt a big deal but Im just letting you know all the details ..In the future, I will definitely be using a sterilized scissors.
Second, I didnt want to reach into the packet to take out the little yeast packet and risk contaminating the yeast, plus it was too big to fall into the primary when I was pouring anyway, so I wasnt concerned about it .so I poured the Activator in and when I pulled the yeast packet out to look at it I noticed that it appeared to be folded over and it was still half full of a fairly clear amber liquid (yeast?). The liquid that was dumped into the primary was thicker and looked more like light chocolate milk. I unfolded it and it appeared that there was sort of a seal right through the middle of it that didnt even look broken. Half the packet was empty with the end wide open while the other half of the packet was still full. Did only half the yeast packet smack open? We couldnt tell after our initial smack and it did swell a little bit, so we though we were good.
And finally, to complicate things, the wort never did really warm up, I pitched it at about 64 or 65 degrees and crossed my fingers. I was still hoping it would warm up a little bit and we had noticed with or first batch that during the early fermentation process that it appeared to be a exothermic and caused the temperature to rise. So I thought if it at least started, then it would warm itself up enough to propagate fermentation.
So, Ive got a brew sitting in the dark, with a blow-off tube (end submerged in water), at 64 degrees, and absolutely no activity ..no bubbling, no foam, no nuttin, and all the while weve had plenty of relaxation and home brews from our first batch. I am no longer relaxed.
So, what say ye??