48 hours and no activity...repitch?

I brewed a brewer's best red ale kit on Sunday morning. This morning there is still no activity in the fermenter. The kit had dry nottingham yeast. I rehydrated the yeast and pitched around 74 degrees.

I know my LHBS (where I bought the kit) doesn't get a lot of traffic, so the kit could be pretty old. Should I give it another day or should I stop by and pick up another packet of yeast at the LHBS on the way home from work today?

Check the gravity, it may be done. Happened to me this weekend, 12 hour fermentation.

+1 on gravity check. I've NEVER seen Nottingham take that long to start up.

I took a gravity reading last night (36 hours after pitching) and it was at 1.034 (same as where it started).

Sounds like a deader, it happens with off the shelf kits. Still, give it 72 hours.

I'd go ahead an get another packet of Nottingham and throw it in. If the packet you added didn't take off by now, I doubt it will. The $2 for an extra packet would be worth my peace of mind.

I'd normally say wait but I've never had nottingham take more than 12hrs.

orfy said:

I'd normally say wait but I've never had nottingham take more than 12hrs.

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This is my 3rd time using nottingham (first time in a brewer's best kit, both time prior it has been from AHBS) and I've always had activity within 4-5 hours. I guess the $2 is worth my sanity. First thing I do when I get home from work and when I wake up is go check the beer hoping to see some activity.

drunkatuw said:

This is my 3rd time using nottingham (first time in a brewer's best kit, both time prior it has been from AHBS) and I've always had activity within 4-5 hours. I guess the $2 is worth my sanity. First thing I do when I get home from work and when I wake up is go check the beer hoping to see some activity.

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You don't go down at night or ring home to check?

orfy said:

You don't go down at night or ring home to check?

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I have called home and asked my wife in the past, but unfortunately, she's not working from home right now

After 36 hours I would consider an addition. I did that recently with a Mild I made using Wyeast Thames Valley. The pack didn't swell a whole lot and was very slow to start bubbling (one of my cats is addicted to watching bubblers so I know when they aren't doing much!), so I got another pack and let it swell and tossed it in.

I read somewhere (maybe Wyeast's site) that after sitting for 48 hours you should consider reboiling, just in case of infection.

I repitched a second packet of nottingham yeast on Tuesday night. As soon as I put it in and swirled the carboy a little to get the yeast wet (don't worry, no splashing) about an 1/8" of krausen started to form.

The krausen stayed at about 1/8" of an inch for 24 hours, but there was activity in the airlock. I noticed that my basement dropped from the mid 60's to 61 degrees yesterday (MN winter is rapidly approaching), so I put one of my wife's old sweaters (it was in the goodwill pile) around the carboy and opened the heater vent. This morning the room was up to around 65 degrees and there was about an inch of krasen and the airlock was bubbling away.

So I think this brew has been saved.