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Jack

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My dad brewed a California common two days ago and we have yet to see airlock activity.

Possible reasons why include:
1. We're impatient and just need to RDWAHAHB. This could be the case because if I tap on the airlock enough a bubble will appear.
2. There is too much headspace in the carboy. There's about 5 gallons in a 6.5 gallon carboy. Maybe a little less than five, but close. With so much air volume, there isn't enough pressure to cause the airlock to bubble.
3. It's too cold. It's currently about 65°F in the house and Wyeast recommends holding at 70-75° until fermentation begins.
4. It's too warm. Wyeast recommends fermenting 2112 at 58-68°F, so 65°F is on the high end of the range.
5. My dad didn't aerate enough.
6. Bad yeast (seems unlikely).

I've always used White Labs+starter so I don't have any experience using Wyeast 2112. If you were us, what would you suggest we do (if anything)?

I think I'll try to find a warmer spot in the house and see if that helps while I wait for your input. :)
 
I don't have any experience with this strain or Wyeast in general, but would imagine that RDWHAHB is the best option. Looks like your temperatures are warm enough, but if the carboy is resting on a concrete/tile floor in the basement it could be colder than ambient conditions. If this is a smakpack did it swell when activated? I would let it go and know that just by posting your thread chances are the yeast will take off by the time someone answers.
 
Headspace isn't an issue, neither are your temps. either 1) you pitched to hot wort and killed the yeast (I think you would know this though) or 2) didn't activate the smack pack.. or 3) least likely: your yeast was D.O.A.
 
i've used that yeast before, for me, it wasn't very active strain i dont think. though, last (only time) i used it, i didnt make a starter, that could be one reason. take a gravity reading and see if its dropped at all.
 
And the answer is 1

AND you also equate the airlock with some sort of sophisticate gauge....It's Not

You don't really know that the beer is fermenting or not.

Remember You should never use a cheap chinese plastic airlock as a "fermentation Gauge," it's not...It's an airlock, nothing more, a VALVE to release excess CO2, to keep from blowing the lid off the fermentor...If it's not bubbling that just means that there's not enough CO2 to climb out of the airlock, or the CO2 is just forming a nice cushion on top of the beer like it's supposed to, or the airlock is askew, or it is leaking out the cheap rubber grommet, or you have a leak in the bucket seal...all those are fine...if CO2 is getting out then nothing's getting in....

Over half of my beers have had no airlock activity...

The only gauge of fermentaion is your hydrometer. And it's too soon to worry about it. Wait til 10 days after pitching....

Secondly...the title of this sticky should give you a clue why you shouldn't worry either....

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/fermentation-can-take-24-72-hrs-start-43635/

GENERALLY speaking the 72 hour rule of thumb serves several purposes...it takes into account LAG TIME that some yeast DO Need before they start.

It takes into consideration the fact that NO TWO FERMENTATIONS ARE EVER THE SAME....Since we're dealing with living micro-organisms it's important to note this fact....and because that one must learn to realize this, and trust that in most normal circumstances the yeasts ARE FINE, they've been doing it for several thousands of years, and THEY are the experts...

A normal healthy yeast, in a sanitary environment, brewing a normal gravity beer between 60 and 70 degrees (for ale, less for lager) WILL 99% of the time FERMENT....it's not like the old days when yeast came in one strain, in an ugly dried out cake....A lot of the mentions in books and things about stuck fermentations were from back in the bad old days....and someone reads something about it, and usually uses airlock activity as an indication and panics and thinks their fermentation is stuck...and the meme virus continues.

Stuck fermentations do happen (I'm dealing with one now), but they are not as common as the threads here indicate. They are the result of things like high grav worts, temp fluctuations , or less than healthy yeasts or under pitching.)

What we recommend is that if you are nervous, to wait 72 hours and take a hydro reading....99.9% of the people who start these threads and do that, come back and say... "Oh yeah I panicked for nothing, the beer is fermenting, hehehe."

Like this from today.....
Name Witheld said:
Rev.
Wanted to let you know that everything is o.k. Checked on the primary this morn. There is still no bubbler activity, but when putting my nose to the bucket, there is that distinct aroma. I opened the lid and saw A LOT OF KRAUSEN. So much that I had to resist the temptation to make a beard and mustache out of it. hahahahaha. I'm going to give it 10 days until I check S.G. again.
Thanks
Click to expand...

:D


Stepaway_copy.jpg


WHile you are stepping away from the beer, read this blog...



http://blogs.homebrewtalk.com/Revvy/Think_evaluation_before_action/
 
Nice write up Revvy! I'm always amazed how varied the answers found here can be from just RDWHAHB to a full-blown patiently typed up answer to a repeat question.

Nice work... Pat yourself on the back...

now get back to work slacker :D
 
Revvy you just need to copy that post and paste as necessary. I swear you have had that similar post over 497 times of your 7485 total.
 
Wyeast has fewer viable cells than WhiteLabs so if you did not use a starter you will have a long lag time, especially if the yeast is close to its "use by" date. I always always always use a starter for liquid yeast, and for a lager or lager-like ale strain I always use a 2L starter.

Lager and lager-like ale yeasts tend to have a longer lag time than normal ale yeasts. And, a lager won't have much krausen, so it won't appear to be doing much when it is actively fermenting, especially during the first few days of fermentation.
 
Choguy03 said:
Revvy you just need to copy that post and paste as necessary. I swear you have had that similar post over 497 times of your 7485 total.
Click to expand...

More like 4,000...You could post it...or cut and past one of mine...Hell, you could claim it as your own answer for all I care about....:D

All the clues were in the first paragraph..."Pitched 2 days ago" "No action in the airlock."
 
I'll confirm option 1. I brewed a California Common, and forgot (didn't realize) to make a starter. I pitched 1 vial of WL San Fransisco Yeast at 65 degrees.

72 hours passed, and no visible activity. :confused:

Had a home brew. :D

Saw a tiny bit of krausen forming for 84 hours. I was worried because it looks kinda strange, in patches. :confused:

And I had another home brew. :D

It didn't really start visible signs of fermentation for 96 hours. Then it started enmass and had a nice layer of krausen, and yes, airlock activity for a week straight. It's still in the primary now, and krausen is starting to clear. Will let it continue to condition, and then the yeast clean up after themselves.

Relax. Sit down. Have a home brew with your Dad.
 
Ya, you just need to chill out. I pitched WLP810 (same as 2112) in a Baltic Porter Friday and didn't see any visible signs of fermentation until Monday. Even now, the krausen is pretty tame as it churns away. Just forget about it for 10-14 days, then take a gravity reading.
 
Thank you for everyone who posted, especially Revvy as that was a pretty good post. :)

After I posted last night, my dad smacked another packet of yeast and pitched it. By this morning, there was 2-3 inches of kreusen so we're good now. I'm not sure if it was the new yeast or if we were just impatient.

My dad said the second packet had a lot more positive pressure than the first one. An examination of the first packet indicated that it was getting old, so I'm sure if I plugged the date into Jamil's (Mr. Malty) pitching rate calculator it would have shown that we were underpitching.

Also, to answer a question above: He didn't make a starter with the Wyeast because they claim that the Activator packs provide enough yeast cells without the use of a starter. Granted, White Labs vials say you don't need a starter too, but I've always made one anyway.
 
Wait one more day, I made a similar beer on Saturday and it didn’t start showing signs of fermenting until Tuesday evening. This morning I ran downstairs to the basement to eyeball it before work and it was going crazy, Huge layer of foam on top and the airlock was dancing a little.

I was freaking a little as well because normally if I brew on a Saturday I see major fermenting going on by Monday at the latest. But of course the boards here said to wait at least 72 hours before hitting the panic button.
 
Revvy said:
And the answer is 1

AND you also equate the airlock with some sort of sophisticate gauge....It's Not

You don't really know that the beer is fermenting or not.

Remember You should never use a cheap chinese plastic airlock as a "fermentation Gauge," it's not...It's an airlock, nothing more, a VALVE to release excess CO2, to keep from blowing the lid off the fermentor...If it's not bubbling that just means that there's not enough CO2 to climb out of the airlock, or the CO2 is just forming a nice cushion on top of the beer like it's supposed to, or the airlock is askew, or it is leaking out the cheap rubber grommet, or you have a leak in the bucket seal...all those are fine...if CO2 is getting out then nothing's getting in....

Over half of my beers have had no airlock activity...

The only gauge of fermentaion is your hydrometer. And it's too soon to worry about it. Wait til 10 days after pitching....

Secondly...the title of this sticky should give you a clue why you shouldn't worry either....

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/fermentation-can-take-24-72-hrs-start-43635/

GENERALLY speaking the 72 hour rule of thumb serves several purposes...it takes into account LAG TIME that some yeast DO Need before they start.

It takes into consideration the fact that NO TWO FERMENTATIONS ARE EVER THE SAME....Since we're dealing with living micro-organisms it's important to note this fact....and because that one must learn to realize this, and trust that in most normal circumstances the yeasts ARE FINE, they've been doing it for several thousands of years, and THEY are the experts...

A normal healthy yeast, in a sanitary environment, brewing a normal gravity beer between 60 and 70 degrees (for ale, less for lager) WILL 99% of the time FERMENT....it's not like the old days when yeast came in one strain, in an ugly dried out cake....A lot of the mentions in books and things about stuck fermentations were from back in the bad old days....and someone reads something about it, and usually uses airlock activity as an indication and panics and thinks their fermentation is stuck...and the meme virus continues.

Stuck fermentations do happen (I'm dealing with one now), but they are not as common as the threads here indicate. They are the result of things like high grav worts, temp fluctuations , or less than healthy yeasts or under pitching.)

What we recommend is that if you are nervous, to wait 72 hours and take a hydro reading....99.9% of the people who start these threads and do that, come back and say... "Oh yeah I panicked for nothing, the beer is fermenting, hehehe."

Like this from today.....

:D


Stepaway_copy.jpg


WHile you are stepping away from the beer, read this blog...



http://blogs.homebrewtalk.com/Revvy/Think_evaluation_before_action/
Click to expand...


Sorry for quoting the whole thing. But does this post remind anyone of some annoying internet ad upon just glancing at it, what with the scattered bigger fonts, bold paragraphs, links, pictures and all? Just thought it was funny. Is your mate happy with your performance?:D
 
KingBrianI said:
Sorry for quoting the whole thing. But does this post remind anyone of some annoying internet ad upon just glancing at it, what with the scattered bigger fonts, bold paragraphs, links, pictures and all? Just thought it was funny. Is your mate happy with your performance?:D
Click to expand...

HAHAHA! I was thinking the same thing! I kept waiting for the Rolex and Viagra pitch myself...
 

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