tt0027
Member
I'm making an IPA off a brewer's best kit which came with Danstar yeast. This is my second attempt (first in bottle now but looking promising..). On this second time around I greatly improved my cooling procedures on the wort (down to 73F in 30 min) and, after adding enough water to reach OG was actually at about 60F. I rehydrated the yeast in boiled water cooled to 87F before pitching and had no activity for the first day. I noticed that the temp on the primary had only grown to 64F so I gave it a light swirl and moved it to a bit warmer area (~69/70F). Activity started right away and this morning I actually had beer in the airlock. Here's where I'm stuck....
The primary is reading at 70F (on the stick-on thermometer) but activity seems to have disappeared again. I'd expect longer than a 20 hour ferment timeframe for an IPA, but since I'm only 3 days in and the first day showed little to no activity, is there a point at which I should consider re-pitching (i.e. - if the SG hasn't changed by a certain percentage). I've read a lot of posts on this site about this, and most say to just let it be. I also know the airlock isn't the answer to tell if fermenting is done but since the krausen made it's way in to the airlock, I would expect to have seen it at other leak-points in the bucket. I had to work today so I won't be able to check the gravity till I get home, but if there is still a ways to go on that reading, should I consider re-pitching or just let the yeast do it's job (which it obviously was doing to a certain extent to force beer in to the airlock). Also, working off of a dried yeast pack in a kit, am I still good to primary ferment only? I racked to secondary on my first beer, but if I don't have to, I don't have any reason to....
OG - 1.062
FG Target - 1.014 - 1.017
Thank you! It's not the cost of ruining the beer that concerns me, it's dealing with the loss....
The primary is reading at 70F (on the stick-on thermometer) but activity seems to have disappeared again. I'd expect longer than a 20 hour ferment timeframe for an IPA, but since I'm only 3 days in and the first day showed little to no activity, is there a point at which I should consider re-pitching (i.e. - if the SG hasn't changed by a certain percentage). I've read a lot of posts on this site about this, and most say to just let it be. I also know the airlock isn't the answer to tell if fermenting is done but since the krausen made it's way in to the airlock, I would expect to have seen it at other leak-points in the bucket. I had to work today so I won't be able to check the gravity till I get home, but if there is still a ways to go on that reading, should I consider re-pitching or just let the yeast do it's job (which it obviously was doing to a certain extent to force beer in to the airlock). Also, working off of a dried yeast pack in a kit, am I still good to primary ferment only? I racked to secondary on my first beer, but if I don't have to, I don't have any reason to....
OG - 1.062
FG Target - 1.014 - 1.017
Thank you! It's not the cost of ruining the beer that concerns me, it's dealing with the loss....