No signs of Fermentation

My son is brewing an IPA around 1.080. He is making a 10 gallon batch and he pitched a vial of WLP001. It has been more than a week, what should he do? He said it may have been warm (80) when he pitched.

Take a specific gravity reading to see if any fermentation has occurred. Take a taste as well. If the specific gravity shows that fermentation has not happened and it still tastes OK, get another vial of yeast, make a starter with it, and pitch that.

One vial of yeast is not sufficient for 10 gallons of 1.080 wort by most calculations. Pitching at 80 degrees (assuming you mean F instead of C) should not have killed the yeast.

1 vial for a 10 gal. batch is definately not enough yeast. Have him check the gravity. I bet there is some fermentation going on, but he's asking a little bit of yeast to ferment alot of wort. It will more than likely take longer to get going.

Yeah, Mr. Malty says you'd need 5.6 vials of yeast or a roughly 2-gallon starter for a beer like that. Are you sure he only pitched one vial?

With 1 vial, it might struggle to finish.

How hot would it have to have been to kill the yeast?

Much hotter than 80F.

Based on what we're reading here, the problem isn't that the yeast cells are dead - the problem is that there aren't enough of them.

waitej02 said:

How hot would it have to have been to kill the yeast?

Click to expand...

140° pops into my head, but I can't back that up.