Imperial stout slow or not fermenting

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RIC0

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Ok 1.5 days ago I brewed up 5 gallons of Williams Imperial Stout, my first stout.

I've read about the foaming and airlock blow offs with this and other imperial stouts so after 24 hours I transfered the wort from a 5 gallon carboy to a 6 gallon bucket to give it more room to play.

I do not have an oxygen tank to areate but I did shake the carboy and roll it around on the floor for about 2-3 minutes before pitching the yeast.

Here's the thing, it's been one and half days and I've yet to see activity thru the airlock. I seen no foaming when it was in the carboy.

yeast used was WYeast 1178 Ringwood ale that comes in the bag that needs to swell 1.5 inches before using, which it was almost 2 inches thick.

WTF should I do as I'm about to leave town for 3 days?
 
At what temperature did you pitch and what was your OG? Did you pitch the right amount of healthy yeast? It's a good idea to make a starter for every batch, but it should be a requirement for any recipe that has "Imperial" in the name.
 
wort was around 70 - 80 degrees when the yeast was added.

Yeast pack, liquid kind was around 70 deg when added.

OG - 1.086

Fermentation room is a steady 71 deg.

I realize these imperial stouts are slow going and it could be 4-5 months before I drink any but most brews are working the airlock within 24 hours.
 
If I'm reading this right, you used one smack pack in a 1.086 with no starter? If that is all you put in then you severely underpitched the yeast. With a proper starter it should have taken off like a bat out of hell (in most cases)... its going to take time to ramp up.
 
That's a big beer. According to yeastcalc you would need almost 300 billion cells to properly ferment that wort. It may take a couple of days to kick in.
 
RIC0 said:
Thanks for the replies guys, the yeast used was recommended so that is what was used.

You're missing the point. You did not pitch nearly ENOUGH yeast. For a beer this big, it's like you needed a bazooka and used a pea shooter.

Read up on proper pitch rates and making starters.
 
You're missing the point. You did not pitch nearly ENOUGH yeast. For a beer this big, it's like you needed a bazooka and used a pea shooter.

Read up on proper pitch rates and making starters.

I"m slowly finding that out. This is a williams brew kit so I'm simply using what they supplied which I would think was enough as it's their product.

Moving forward I'll try and jump start it first....:mug:
 
Did anyone pick up on the transfer after 24 hours???


Op was this after you pitched the yeast? In transferring you may have left most of the yeast behind. Along with severe under pitching if you left most yeast in the first vessel then you shod definitely consider pitching more yeast
 
I saw that and took it to mean he dumped the entire contents into the bucket, leaving nothing behind.
 
Update.

Yes i dumped the primary from a 5 gal. carboy to a 6 gal. bucket to give it more room to ferment and foam.

3 days after pitching the yeast it finally went thru the vigorous fermenting and good thing someone mentioned the tube as it would have blown the airlock off the top I think.

So long story short it took longer to ferment or start fermenting than i was anticipating.

All is good.

Now to cold crash my red ale and get it ready for the bottles and ghetto growlers.
 

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