Should I re pitch yeast?

I did a NB Cariabou slobber, but I pitched way to early when the wort was still too warm. As a result, I started to rapidly ferment, heavily, within 5 hrs. Within 7 hrs, I had to rig a blow off.

When I checked this morning (glass carboy), after not even 36 hrs, there is virtually no activity visible. I get a burp from the air lock every not even once a minute.

Should I re pitch another pack of yeast??

What does your hydrometer say?

dannylerch said:

What does your hydrometer say?

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Well, I never took the OG. I am new at this, so I just plain forgot.

I have not taken any readings yet.. If I do take a reading, what should I be looking for? It seems to have just really slowed down, almost stopped. I figured it would be active for maybe 3-4 days, not just one.

Should I take a few readings over the next few days and see if I should re pitch?

Relax. Wait until day 7-10 and take a reading. If it's down in the 1.015 range or so you are fine, just be patient and don't rush things. While you may have pitched too early or too hot, from what your saying your yeast is still alive and doing it's job.

Ale yeast can do that especially if you let it ferment a bit too warm. When you begin to drink this beer you will know that it had fermented warm from the off flavors. Right now what you need to do is put it where you won't think about it for another 3 weeks. That lets the yeast work the stage where it is still fermenting but not giving off CO2 and then have time to clean up some of the off flavors. Then take the hydrometer reading and let us know what it turned out to be.

What type of yeast did you pitch and what is the temp of your wort now?

If it is too cold in the room, that may have stalled activity. Nomal ale ferm temps should fall between 68-72 deg. If that is the case, get an electric brew belt from your lhbs or fermwrap to bring up the temps. Swirl the carboy good then warm it up. It has always worked for me.

It could be other reasons, but give that a try if you can.

Everything sounds normal to me - 2-3 days of active fermentation is not unusual for an ale yeast, especially if fermented warm.

That said, the only way to judge the progress of your fermentation is to use your hydrometer. Airlock activity is minimally useful.

You may have some ester and fusel off flavors from the warm fermentation but it's most likely done what it's going to do or at least very close to it. Either way there isn't much you can do now to change the outcome. So just let it ride with your normal schedule and see how it goes.

Let it go and use it as a test batch. See what it does over time, bottle it and record tasting notes a week, a month, 2 months etc. I'd be interested in seeing how a simple mistake might yeild interesting results down the road.