Fermentation can take 24 to 72 hrs to show visible signs.

Yeah, 74f is a little on the warm side and a simple swamp cooler is definitely an easy way of controlling ferm. temps therefore getting an instant increase in the quality of beer you produce.

It might not really be of much benefit for the present brew as the initial, vigorous, exothermic stage of fermentation is probably winding down, so you'll want to keep it warmish to help the yeast finish off and do some clean up, conditioning, where some of the off flavours can be dissipated. Not sure of what the best temp range for the wyeast ESB 1968 is, but being an English it might not throw overly hideous flavours at the temps it hit.

Just did a secondary raspberry, started showing and making sounds after a few hours.

Ogri said:

Yeah, 74f is a little on the warm side and a simple swamp cooler is definitely an easy way of controlling ferm. temps therefore getting an instant increase in the quality of beer you produce.

It might not really be of much benefit for the present brew as the initial, vigorous, exothermic stage of fermentation is probably winding down, so you'll want to keep it warmish to help the yeast finish off and do some clean up, conditioning, where some of the off flavours can be dissipated. Not sure of what the best temp range for the wyeast ESB 1968 is, but being an English it might not throw overly hideous flavours at the temps it hit.

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Well in the spirit of making things as difficult as possible looks like I went to the other extreme with my second batch, an oatmeal stout. After looking around at info on the swamp coolers I got a nice size bin that will hold my bucket and after pitching I put it in there with some water and tossed in half a dozen frozen water bottles. We had a cold snap here last night and it got down to 61F in the house and my swamp cooler water for the 48F! It's up to about 60F now but no signs of fermentation. What should I do at this point?

Depends on the strain of yeast you've gone with for this batch. Danstar Nottingham works well down at 57 whereas S-04 and US-05 prefer somewhere around 62-64 or so.

Might be a good idea to take the fermenter out of the swamp cooler and move it to somewhere a little warmer for a short time as just allowing the fermenter to warm up a bit should get the fermentation started. Once you see signs of krauzen forming and temp of the beer starting to rise you could relocate the fermenter into the swamp cooler again.

My batch has been in the fermentor for 4 days and the krausen is almost gone. Is this normal? Should I transfer to the secondary now since it seems the fermenting may soon be over? It just seems a little too soon to me.

Thanks

SM15

It's been 20 hours an no visible signs of fermentation yet - should I shake the wort to aerate every few hours until I see something?

bits said:

It's been 20 hours an no visible signs of fermentation yet - should I shake the wort to aerate every few hours until I see something?

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No.

bleme said:

No.

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It's been 48 hours and still nothing other than some air bubbles at the top of my beer. Is there a point where I should intervene?

I did prime my yeast with 110 degree water then slowly brought it my wort temp by adding wort. Right now my carboy is at 62 degrees.

I also removed my airlock to make sure it was tight. Did that restart anything?

Thoughts?

I made a honey ale on Saturday and by Sunday the top was covered up with krausen, however today there are just a few patches of 'funk' on top. Should it have died down that quickly? If not is there something I should/can do to get it going again?

itsme_timd said:

I made a honey ale on Saturday and by Sunday the top was covered up with krausen, however today there are just a few patches of 'funk' on top. Should it have died down that quickly? If not is there something I should/can do to get it going again?

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It's probably fine.
What yeast did you use?
What is your room temperature?
Do you know the fermentor's temperature?

bleme said:

It's probably fine.
What yeast did you use?
What is your room temperature?
Do you know the fermentor's temperature?

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I used Windsor yeast
Room temp is 72F
Fermenter is in a swamp cooler reading 66F

I have to add my experience of stressing the yeast in certain beer styles. I am a fan of Bavarian wheats and one of the flavors you look for is the banana. If you get too much yeast and to hard and fast of a fermentation, it seems to me that you lose a lot of the banana character. Just my two cnts

I have seen a lot of starter not starting threads now and I need some answers that I have not been able to find. Any help will be appreciated. Here is the set up. I have an all grain raspberry wheat scheduled for this week. I have several pints of washed American wheat. Last night I made the same starter I made when I made the original beer with my vial of yeast and I am not exactly worried but I am not having much luck with starters lately. Had to toss a belgian abbey yeast a while back after a week of nothing and a notable change in smell from beer to bread. Didn't want to risk a 5.5 gallon batch on a maybe yeast that could be infected. I saw no signs of fermentation then and I am seeing the same thing now. I do not have a stir plate so I swirl every time I pass it and I have two young kids and play stay at home dad so trust me I am passing this thing a lot. What I am seeing is a pretty decent amount of settling out with no signs of any fermentation. The reason I am concerned is this is my first washed yeast and it was washed about 6-8 months ago. It was kept in the back of the fridge in the bottom coldest section. Any thoughts aside from wait it out. I could possibly dump it into a grad cylinder tomorrow and maybe have enough to float a hydrometer in it. The initial gravity with my refractometer was 1.050. I keep reading people say that I should see a creamy look but I haven't seen an example and when I swirl it after it has settled it looks creamy to me so I don't know. Anyone got some pictures or something to help me out. Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance.

I'm on my 4th batch of beer now - currently have a honey hef in primary fermentation. After the boil was over, I put the pot in an ice bath, but it took FOREVER to cool down. It took so long to cool down that my girlfriend and I decided to just go get something to eat while it was still in the ice bath. When we got back after eating, the temp was 65 - 70 degrees, so I think I overcooled it. I pitched anyway (Whitelabs American Hef), after aerating the cooled wort by whipping with a whisk. 24 hours later, the fermenter showed no activity whatsoever. I got worried, so I got a sanitized spoon and gently stirred the beer. The next morning (about 36 hrs after pitching), the airlock was going crazy! This is the first time I've had a delay (more than 6 hrs or so) before fermentation started. Was it because I over-chilled the wort before pitching?

Also, I am concerned about the length of time it took for my wort to cool (3 to 4 hrs between end of boil and pitching). This is by far the longest it has taken me too cool my wort down, and I'm wondering about the potential negative effects this may have on the final product. Any thoughts?

I don't think you over chilled your wort at all. I always pitch at 60F-65F.

Whether that is too long to chill is debatable. Some (I) prefer to be chilled in 15 minutes, but plenty of people will leave the wort to cool on it's own, pitch the next day, and report good results.

I do have questions about your aeration process though. When I whisk, I am using an electric whisk on high speed for 5 full minutes. If you aren't getting that much oxygen in there, that is probably the easiest/cheapest way to improve your beer.

You don't detail what your ice bath is like, but I use a big ice chest that holds my kettle with room all the way around. I fill the empty space with ice then pour salt on the ice and add water to the level of the wort. Whirlpool the wort and it is usually down to pitching temperature in 15 minutes.

Well, I use a rubber trash can, taller than my fermenting bucket - I put a bunch of ice in there and then put the pot of cooling wort in, surrounding it with ice on the sides. I think my mistake this time was being preoccupied with other stuff - I didn't put enough water into the trash can along with the ice. I also did not swirl the wort to help speed up cooling. Next time I'll be more focused on the beer.

By the way, where does one get an electric whisk? I don't think I've ever seen one of those.

benfactorial said:

By the way, where does one get an electric whisk? I don't think I've ever seen one of those.

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Mine is similar to this one, but has 4 different attachments.

http://www.walmart.com/msharbor/ip/15758914?adid=1500000000000012981640&veh=mweb:undefined

I have an AG American Wheat in the primary that I cooked Sunday. I almost always use dry yeast lately. I ran into some delays with liquids in the past as well. I always chill within 15 to 20 minutes using a homemade wort chiller, but I used to icebath in the kitchen sink and I never had any off results. Heck, I even would just sit the brewkettle in the snow during the winter sometimes.

I wouldn't worry about a low pitching temp unless it it outrageously low. I mean, you can store dry yeast in the freezer and I can guarantee the WL you are using was stored under heavy refrigeration. It may slow the kickoff a bit, but it does not cancel the game.

I have pitched dry yeast into ales that were in the 50's in the past and they worked fine. I did not mean to chill them to that level, but all ended well.

I'm at about 84 hours now and have no signs at all of fermentation. Should I repitch and if so should I do anything special before repitching?

The brew is an Imperial Stout and OG was 1.072 and I used WLP007 yeast. Vial sat out about 6 hours before pitching, I gave it a good shake and poured it on top and popped the lid on my fermenter... but nothing at all after 3 1/2 days.

EDIT: After posting I went back to read the thread, in hindsight it would have probably been helpful to do that before posting. Anyhow, I took a gravity reading and SG is at 1.035 now, which means I do have fermentation, but there are still zero visible signs. Is there any reason to care if there are no visible signs as long as it's happening?

I have my first attempt at a home brew (an IPA) in the basement right now in primary, has been there since last Friday.
The temp on the bucket is registering 68 to 70 F. Is that ok?
I checked today and saw no visible signs of bubbles from the airlock. Previously there were signs of bubbles every 10-15 seconds. I did a quick peek and there was tons of foam on the top. Is this normal? It smelled fine, good hop aroma.
I am having a little first time brewer anxiety.

Itsme, repitch as fast as you can. And in the future, White Labs are meant to be used as a starter, not pitched directly, unless you have a very small beer.

Cubfan, that is exactly what is supposed to happen. It's not done yet though so don't touch it until at least Friday. What is your plan after that?

bleme said:

Cubfan, that is exactly what is supposed to happen. It's not done yet though so don't touch it until at least Friday. What is your plan after that?

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Ok good, I kind of figured but I got nervous.
I want to dry hop but I might do it in the primary and skip the secondary since this is my first rodeo.

First brew in many years. American brown ale (Caribou slobber) danstar windsor ale yeast.

So I placed my fermenting bucket on the basement floor (57 degree concrete). 18 hours latter I thought this was too cold, so I brought it upstairs to raise the temp. Airlock activity is visible several hours latter. Very happy. Wake up today, no airlock activity. Not happy. Do the flashlight check and I can see a ring about one inch above beer, but no foam remains.

Where to go from here? Did the initial low temp shorten life of yeast? Should I re-pitch or just wait it out? Since it hasn't even been 48 hours, I can't imagine the yeast activity would be so short.

ETA: Decided to take bucket down to basement again. This time placed it about 4 feet above floor. Ambient temp 65. Gave the bucket a few swirls, and now the airlock is active again.

se1911 said:

First brew in many years. American brown ale (Caribou slobber) danstar windsor ale yeast.

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It sounds like you have a weak seal on your bucket. Moving upstairs created a gap big enough for CO2 to escape though. Of my 4 buckets, one never seals and one usually seals. They still work fine.

1st time with excessive lag here, I brewed a basic 2-row lager on Sunday, OG 1.050. Cooled to 80 with chiller, aerated like normal using venturi setup, put in fridge to chill overnight. Next morning I pitched 2 packs of dry safale lager yeast that was double stepped up using stirplate about 2-3 months ago. I pitched the yeast cold with the lager at about 48F.

Next day nothing, no big deal, but I aerated using degassing whip, yesterday nothing visible so I aerated again. This morning so about 68 hours with yeast, still nothing. I have a smack pack of munich lager yeast that says its good up to 5 gals of 1.060, should I smack that and pitch?

Gracious.

cosmatics said:

1st time with excessive lag here, I brewed a basic 2-row lager on Sunday, OG 1.050. Cooled to 80 with chiller, aerated like normal using venturi setup, put in fridge to chill overnight. Next morning I pitched 2 packs of dry safale lager yeast that was double stepped up using stirplate about 2-3 months ago. I pitched the yeast cold with the lager at about 48F.

Next day nothing, no big deal, but I aerated using degassing whip, yesterday nothing visible so I aerated again. This morning so about 68 hours with yeast, still nothing. I have a smack pack of munich lager yeast that says its good up to 5 gals of 1.060, should I smack that and pitch?

Gracious.

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lagers take a while to build a krausen. you should see some bubbles at the surface by now. whether you do or not, give it another day.

So here is my Lagunitas IPA clone in the secondary dry hopping. It was in primary for 10 days and now has been in secondary for 5. I am thinking about bottling tonight. The gravity readings in primary said it was done fermenting. I went with secondary to dry hop. The bubbles are just Co2 escaping, right?

siucubfan8 said:

So here is my Lagunitas IPA clone in the secondary dry hopping. It was in primary for 10 days and now has been in secondary for 5. I am thinking about bottling tonight. The gravity readings in primary said it was done fermenting. I went with secondary to dry hop. The bubbles are just Co2 escaping, right?

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Yes - Hops provide nucleation site for CO2, so it comes out of solution when dry hopping.

progmac said:

lagers take a while to build a krausen. you should see some bubbles at the surface by now. whether you do or not, give it another day.

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Ok an update, I took my 1st gravity reading and it seems to be down 2pts, so I think I should just relax and have a homebrew. Thanks Progmac.

I made a gallon of brown ale from a starter kit on Thursday. The first day, it was very active, actually blowing off the air lock and spilling over the top. I put some vodka in the airlock and put it back in there, and since then it hasn't done a whole lot. Today I noticed sort of a foam at the bottom of the carboy, which threw me off a bit. I thought that foam (krausen, I guess would be the technical term) started at the top.

Part of me thinks, "everything you've read says be patient and wait" and another part is, "my beer! What's happening to it?"

I am having the same problem. I normally see activity within 8-10 hours & then in the morning it is going crazy. I made 2 batches of same beer a day apart. The one from yesterday is bubbling. The first one still nothing but there is a heavy krausen on top. I may have a leaking airlock as I retrofit it with a bung and 90 d barb to hose in water.

Should I be worried? This has only happened one other time but it finally took off after 28-30 hours. It has now been almost 30 hours and nothing.

51dimes said:

I made a gallon of brown ale from a starter kit on Thursday. The first day, it was very active, actually blowing off the air lock and spilling over the top. I put some vodka in the airlock and put it back in there, and since then it hasn't done a whole lot. Today I noticed sort of a foam at the bottom of the carboy, which threw me off a bit. I thought that foam (krausen, I guess would be the technical term) started at the top.

Part of me thinks, "everything you've read says be patient and wait" and another part is, "my beer! What's happening to it?"

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The bottom? A picture would help, but I'd guess it's a mixture of flocculated yeast and trub settling after primary ferment.

What was the yeast strain?

How much yeast did you pitch for the gallon batch?

What was the wort temp when you inoculated it?

There's nothing you can do about the beer now in regards to these questions, I'm simply curious.

owentp said:

I am having the same problem. I normally see activity within 8-10 hours & then in the morning it is going crazy. I made 2 batches of same beer a day apart. The one from yesterday is bubbling. The first one still nothing but there is a heavy krausen on top. I may have a leaking airlock as I retrofit it with a bung and 90 d barb to hose in water.

Should I be worried? This has only happened one other time but it finally took off after 28-30 hours. It has now been almost 30 hours and nothing.

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If there's krausen, it's fermenting. Let it go a week to 10 days from the time you pitched and take a gravity reading. I'd bet it's done in that time frame.

I am a new brewer and new to the site. My first batch showed signs of fermenting within 18 hours (bubbles in the air lock). I am on my 4th day of fermenting, should I still have signs of bubbles in the air lock?

Matt0112 said:

I am a new brewer and new to the site. My first batch showed signs of fermenting within 18 hours (bubbles in the air lock). I am on my 4th day of fermenting, should I still have signs of bubbles in the air lock?

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Bubbles are meaningless. Wait 2 more weeks and measure a sample with a hydrometer. Wait 3 more days and measure another sample. If both hydrometer readings are the same and within a couple points of expected Final Gravity, you are safe to bottle.

I made my first brew almost 48 hrs ago now. It's a brown ale and I used S-05 as the yeast. During clean up, I realized that the bucket I was using as primary wasn't completely sealed (probably ~45 min). There was a smell similar to that of bread rising so I took that as a good sign at the time. But since sealing it completely, I've seen no bubbles in the airlock. The temperature should have been constant at 73.

How long should I wait before opening it and checking on it? Also, should I be concerned about contamination since it was unsealed?

Thanks!

About 1 in 4 of my buckets don't seal well. Your excess CO2 is probably going out a leak instead of your airlock. You can usually tell through the bucket if there is a krausen. You might need a flashlight.

I've never had a problem with a leaky seal, but I usually don't use those buckets in a swamp cooler as I tend to get mold growth under the tshirt and there's no real point in tempting fate.

New here as well, have the same issue haha

From all the reading I have been doing, bubbles are not a good sole indicator. I am waiting a week myself to make sure.

The popular options seem to be: Wait, sneak a peek, re-pitch after a few days. I have considered all of them...

So far the best advice I received was: check for yeast or beer aroma, peak for krausen, wait...

best of luck!

I'm sure this has been asked before but I cant seem to find it - started my first brew on friday night, was bubbling away all day saturday and sunday but it seems to have stopped today (monday), seems to be no activity at all - is that normal?