How long for signs of fermentation?

I purchased AHS American IPA kit. This came with the WLP001 yeast. I'm sitting at close to 60 hrs without any fermentation signs (airlock activity). Now I understand it could be working, but normally I would expect to see some type of movement by now.

OG was 1.060

How long should I wait? Is this something that Austin homebrew would fix?

I assume your fermenting in a bucket. No worries. An airlock bubbling doesn't really mean anything. Many things can lead to a lack of pressure in your fermenter, such as a loose fitting lid. Wait til a week is done and take a peak (and a hydrometer sample).

60 hours is a long time. Is it in a carboy or bucket. If it's in a bucket you could have a bad seal and the gas is escaping without the need of the airlock. Have you opened the bucket? If not do so and see if there is any activity, bubbling, krausen, etc. It may be fermenting

Also, what temperature is it at, did you make a starter? Did you aerate well?

If nothing is going on at all then I would contact the HBS, explain and request a new pack of yeast and re-pitch.

Yes it's a bucket. Haven't peeked at it yet, but I guess that's the first I should do.

It's a brand new bucket. I made sure lid is as tight as it can be. I did my normal aeration. Splash through a filter. Give it a nice store with my paddle. Place the lid on it and shake it for 1-2 mins. Open lid back up and dump the yeast. I am just using a swamp cooler method with a fan. It's sitting about 65 degrees.

dcodd87 said:

Yes it's a bucket. Haven't peeked at it yet, but I guess that's the first I should do.

It's a brand new bucket. I made sure lid is as tight as it can be. I did my normal aeration. Splash through a filter. Give it a nice store with my paddle. Place the lid on it and shake it for 1-2 mins. Open lid back up and dump the yeast. I am just using a swamp cooler method with a fan. It's sitting about 65 degrees.

Click to expand...

Good process and glad to see you are taking care of your fermentation temperatures!

Pop the lid and take a peak you may be surprised, buckets are notorious for leaking

Opened the lid and nothing, absolutely no foam or krausen. I may drive the hr tmr to go to a brew supply and pick up more yeast. I may not want to wait the 2-3 days for another shipment

If I were to purchase yeast tmr. Should I just dump the yeast and go?

Or should I re-aerate then dump the yeast?

dcodd87 said:

If I were to purchase yeast tmr. Should I just dump the yeast and go?

Or should I re-aerate then dump the yeast?

Click to expand...

Definitley re-aerate and then pitch and check the date on the package to be sure it's fresh!

Thanks for the help!!

Just an update!


I purchased another bike of yeast.
I re-airated the beer, and pitched the yeast. I now have signs of fermentation. Temp is holding strong at 64

Update:


Almost 10 days in and I've had a pretty steady temp at 65 degrees. Just checked gravity and there was 2-3 inches of krausen. The gravity is sitting at 1.021, so just a little longer to go.

My question (if someone is still reading this) being the initial signs of fermentation are complete. Should I bring my temp up a little bit, maybe to 67-68?

Those 65 degrees, are the temperature of the liquid or the room temperature?

Well I'm not really sure if the liquid is.. I made a son of fermentation chiller, so the box has been sitting at 65 for the whole 10 days now. I'm pretty sure the liquid is 65 if not very close.

won't hurt to bring it up a bit, won't hurt to leave it.
Let it sit 2-3 weeks more, 4 if you're patient, and bottle.