When to repitch yeast?

my bro-in-law has a ginger wheat in the fermenter...he made a yeast starter that seemed to be doing great...but in four days has not had ANY noticeable action in the airlock. should he repitch? what are the pros and cons of repitching yeast? thanks for the sharing of knowledge.

Is there any sediment on the bottom, a ring around the fermenter at the top of the liquid line? If so, then it may be done.

ALWAYS check your gravity before re-pitching just in case it's already done.

If it's not then yeah, pitch some more.

Four days? Something wrong. Some people posted that it might be done. That is true but you should know if it was fermenting. I sometimes ferment in a Sanke keg and once the blowoff was going around the cork and I couldn't tell until I tested for leaks. I still like fermenting in glass so I can see what is happening.

Bobcatbrewing42 said:

Four days? Something wrong. Some people posted that it might be done. That is true but you should know if it was fermenting. I sometimes ferment in a Sanke keg and once the blowoff was going around the cork and I couldn't tell until I tested for leaks. I still like fermenting in glass so I can see what is happening.

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Well, this post is from more than 7 years ago- so I'm pretty sure it fermented by now.

I did an IPA yesterday with OG of 1.060, I used Wyeast 1056 and I used a 1L starter. 24 hours later I'm seeing zero bubbler activity..

Now, I am using a 7.5 gallon conical (fastferment) fermenter and I have 4.5 gallons of wort. Could my yeast be working and I just have so much headspace that it's not getting into the bubbler? Should I give it another shot of Wyeast1056 or wait another day or so?

Also, I may not have oxygenated the wort as well as I should have... I could try getting some O2 in there to get it going? Perhaps that is my problem.

any advice or suggestions? I'm all 'eyes"
:smack:

here is a picture of my fermenter:

The headspace would fill pretty quickly if the beer was active, so I don't think that is the case. You might be able to check for krausen in there with a flashlight, I've never used a FF conical. 24 hours isn't a ridiculous period without activity...how did you aerate?

Brettomomyces said:

The headspace would fill pretty quickly if the beer was active, so I don't think that is the case. You might be able to check for krausen in there with a flashlight, I've never used a FF conical. 24 hours isn't a ridiculous period without activity...how did you aerate?

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I didn't aerate very well. Typically I use a paint stir to get the O2 in there, but with this batch I overlooked it and I pitched the yeast as the wort was draining into the fermenter from the kettle.. herin lies the problem me thinks... If this is the case, what is the corrective action?

I nailed my preboil and post boil gravities, so I dont think this is the problem.

In any case, what is the harm in waiting another day to see? I'm just not sure what to do now...

Just wondering, I can't hurt anything if I take the fermenter down and shake the SH*T out of it, can it? May have to give that a try, but I want to know what my brew buddies (you people!) think.

redwing_al said:

Just wondering, I can't hurt anything if I take the fermenter down and shake the SH*T out of it, can it? May have to give that a try, but I want to know what my brew buddies (you people!) think.

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Prefermention, go for it. Get shakin'