Wort not fermenting!?!?

Okay, so I know there are a lot of threads on this, so I guess I'm just looking for some reaffirmation. Today I decided to brew pretty much my all time favorite style of beer; a Belgian Tripel. My LHBS put together a pretty simple recipe for me;

250 grams of cara pils steeped for 20 minutes (I know you're not supposed to, but I always gently sparge my specialty grains just once )

Then a 30 minute boil with 2.6 kg's of light liquid malt extract, 2 oz's of Hallertau, and 2 pounds of blond (clear) Belgian candi sugar.

Here comes the part I'm nervous about; The yeast-- My recipe called for WYeast strain 1214 (Belgian Abbey Ale), but I have NEVER used liquid yeast. It WAS refrigerated at the store, and I DID refrigerate it over night until I was ready to use it. I 'smacked' and activated it a good 30 minutes before starting my brew, and by the time I pitched it, it had been activated for ATLEAST 2 and a half hours. The package didn't seem all that swollen, but it did say on the back you didn't have to wait for the package to swell completely before pitching. So it's now been aboooout... 10 hours since I pitched my yeast. I DID stir and aerate the wort well, and this on its own of course produced foam, but as of right now, there is literally ZERO foam on top of the wort. I took a whiff a few minutes ago to see if I could pick up any C02, but all I can smell is warm yeast-- It smells like dough rising. There is NO fermentation happening here Did I do something wrong? I did notice that on the front of the package it was dated January 8th, 2013, though I assumed this was the manufacture date. Does WYeast put their expiration dates on the package? I could only find one date. Could my yeast be expired? If nothing happens in a few days, is the wort still good to pitch another (presumably active ) pack of yeast onto it? I was REALLY looking forward to this brew, am I just being impatient? I've only ever used dry ale yeasts like Coopers, or Nottingham, and have NEVER not seen any krausen, or signs of fermentation by this time. Anything helps here guys. Thanks a lot !

Cheers

10 hours? Dont worry about it mate. Even if it did "expire" on the 8th of Jan, its not a drop dead date for the yeast. It's probably more like a best before date . 10 hours to visible signs of fermentation is not worth worrying about. I got this from their website:

"A widely used and alcohol tolerant Abbey yeast that is suitable for a variety of Belgian style ales. This strain produces a nice ester profile as well as slightly spicy alcohol notes. It can be slow to start; however, it attenuates well. "

Yeast is in lag phase at the moment, this is phase where it is preparing for growth and fermentation and no visible signs are present.
You'll be ok.

Give it more time. I have read that it can take up to 72hrs. For it to start. I used a smack pack once with all of the same details you have given. It didn't swell as much as I thought , and it was closer to the end of the sell by date. It took a day and a half for mine to get going. You should be good, just give it some time. What temp are you at? That can affect how fast it starts as well.

HopZombie99 said:

10 hours? Dont worry about it mate. Even if it did "expire" on the 8th of Jan, its not a drop dead date for the yeast. It's probably more like a best before date . 10 hours to visible signs of fermentation is not worth worrying about. I got this from their website:

"A widely used and alcohol tolerant Abbey yeast that is suitable for a variety of Belgian style ales. This strain produces a nice ester profile as well as slightly spicy alcohol notes. It can be slow to start; however, it attenuates well. "

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Haha, good find ! Thanks bro

ETOHonboard said:

Give it more time. I have read that it can take up to 72hrs. For it to start. I used a smack pack once with all of the same details you have given. It didn't swell as much as I thought , and it was closer to the end of the sell by date. It took a day and a half for mine to get going. You should be good, just give it some time. What temp are you at? That can affect how fast it starts as well.

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I took the wort down to about 85-90 with my chiller and then dumped it in my bucket (as I was just going to add another ten liters of room temperature water, I figured it was cool enough), and topped up with another 13 liters of room temperature room water. It still seemed a bit on the warm side, and I probably should have waited for it to drop a few more degrees, but I'm sure it's fine, and was almost most certainly under 80 when I pitched my yeast. It's now sitting in a pantry that is usually maintained between 69-70 (the thermostat is actually right next to it.)

Temps seem good. You should be good to go. Happy fermenting!

I believe the date on the wyeast pack is the manufacture date and it is used on yeastcalc.com to determine the yeast starter size you need to get your count to the proper level. It should still do fine but will take awhile to get going.

You should be fine, fermentation can take off quickly or it can take 72 hours or more..........

You'll probably be fine.

In the future, if you're going to use liquid yeast, consider a yeast starter.

grem135 said:

I believe the date on the wyeast pack is the manufacture date and it is used on yeastcalc.com to determine the yeast starter size you need to get your count to the proper level. It should still do fine but will take awhile to get going.

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Absolutely.

And I believe you are probably in the range of 55-60% viable yeast based on that date, so you likely under pitched. Probably not a huge deal. If it doesn't start in the next 48 hours, wait a little longer. Then start to panic. Right before panicking, though, come back here and ask the question again.

Unless you dump it, lose the batch to thieves, or encounter an act of god, you're going to end up with beer in a few weeks. Guaranteed.

24 hour mark, still no signs of fermentation-- Fingers crossed. :cross:

Alright, it's been just over 48 hours, still no foam or krausen WHATSOEVER, though the lid to my bucket is swelling slightly. Should I take a gravity reading yet?

Unusmundus said:

Alright, it's been just over 48 hours, still no foam or krausen WHATSOEVER, though the lid to my bucket is swelling slightly. Should I take a gravity reading yet?

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Do you have an airlock to relieve pressure in that bucket? If not, now is the time to lift the lid and let pressure escape. You can leave the lid loose if you need to.

If you don't have an airlock, get one on there ASAP.

Please take this bit of advice: RELAX. Your beer is going to sit in that container, undisturbed and unopened for THREE weeks. You are wasting your time obsessing over it. It will be beer when it's done but you gotta let it do its thing man. Don't take any hydrometer readings. Don't open it. Don't touch it. Just put it in a dark corner and forget about it for 3 weeks.

Your beer will thank you for it.

RM-MN said:

Do you have an airlock to relieve pressure in that bucket? If not, now is the time to lift the lid and let pressure escape. You can leave the lid loose if you need to.

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Yes I do, however it's offset, and is not right in the center of the lid, so it doesn't always work too well. I usually leave the lid cracked on all of my buckets regardless, I just had it snapped down all the way to see if any C02 was accumulating.

If you have an airlock on it, it will work fine regardless of where it's placed. Snap the lid back on tight.

Three weeks.

It does not matter jf the air lock is sticking out the side in a 90 degree fitting as long as its high enough above your beer. co2 will find the easiest way put no matter where it is.

Rdwhahb!