Yeast not active, help!!

I'm a beginner home brewer, and recently brewed a local brewery's ale recipe (last week). Actually, I brewed a 10 gal. batch with a friend and we split it. He took his batch home and added yeast the next day without problems. On the other hand, I've added yeast with no activity after 2 days. I added another pack on day 3 but still no activity.

I went to the local brew supply store and they said a couple of things, (1) the temp in my closet (60-65) may have been too cool for the yeast (2) not to rehydrate the yeast and add directly. So now, 6 days later, I've pitched my 3rd pack of yeast directly in the wort and let the fermentor sit outside (as it is much warmer outside than in - around 80-85). I am still not seeing any activity in the airlock. Is this batch gone? I see lots of sediment at the bottem, but I'm assuming thats from the mashing and yeast fall out.

Can anyone help? Any insight would be much appreciated. Thanks!

You see no activity? Are you fermenting in a glass carboy or plastic bucket with lid? And by activity are you referring to the airlock bubbling? I'll guess you are using a plastic bucket with an airlock and you haven't seen it burb at all. My guess is it fermented just fine and you didn't know it b/c the lid on the bucket wasn't on tight, so the CO2 escape through that not the airlock. The only way to tell for sure is to using sanitized equipment take a sample from the fermentor and take a gravity reading with a hydrometer. If it's below say 1.020, it's fermented pretty much as far as it is going to. Also after this, taste the sample, does it taste like beer? And keep the beer out of 80-85F temps, that certainly is not good for it! Let us know what the hydrometer reading says, otherwise just take a sample out and see if tastes like beer or really sweet, hoppy sugar water.

EDIT: If you don't have a hyrdometer, buy one tomorrow from your local brew shop or if that is not an option you'd have to go by taste. (Maybe borrow your buddy's hydrometer if he has one.) Also is there a ring of crud just above the liquid level in the fermentor-that is usualy a sign of completed fermentation.

tuffryu said:

I'm a beginner home brewer, and recently brewed a local brewery's ale recipe (last week). Actually, I brewed a 10 gal. batch with a friend and we split it. He took his batch home and added yeast the next day without problems. On the other hand, I've added yeast with no activity after 2 days. I added another pack on day 3 but still no activity.

I went to the local brew supply store and they said a couple of things, (1) the temp in my closet (60-65) may have been too cool for the yeast (2) not to rehydrate the yeast and add directly. So now, 6 days later, I've pitched my 3rd pack of yeast directly in the wort and let the fermentor sit outside (as it is much warmer outside than in - around 80-85). I am still not seeing any activity in the airlock. Is this batch gone? I see lots of sediment at the bottem, but I'm assuming thats from the mashing and yeast fall out.

Can anyone help? Any insight would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Click to expand...

Make sure you have a towel wrapped around it if its outside, and wouldnt 80-85 be too hot ?

Holy cow, thanks for the reply. I just tasted, and it was fairly bitter, but beer tasting. It was beer tasting and not like sweet sugared mash water. Does this mean the bubbling happened already? what will the extra yeast I added do? The fermentor is a plastic bucket with a spigot. I thought everything was on pretty tight, but maybe not. What would you advise?

take that hydrometer reading
JJ

I wouldn't worry about it, I mean if it looks like beer, tastes like beer, and most importantly gets you drunk like beer I'd say you're on the right track. My first batch ever had a similar problem, though mine was slight crack at the top so I pretty much missed all but the very beginning fermentation. The best thing I could suggest is to brew another batch and see what happens.

tuffryu said:

Holy cow, thanks for the reply. I just tasted, and it was fairly bitter, but beer tasting. It was beer tasting and not like sweet sugared mash water. Does this mean the bubbling happened already? what will the extra yeast I added do? The fermentor is a plastic bucket with a spigot. I thought everything was on pretty tight, but maybe not. What would you advise?

Click to expand...

If it's tasting like beer that's a good sign, obviously. It will be fairly bitter, the bitterness tends to mellow with time and conditioning in the bottle. Since it's not super sweet it sounds like it probably fermented just fine. The only way to tell if it done FOR SURE is to take a gravity measurement using a hydrometer....do you have access to one? As far as extra yeast....it won't hurt a thing. Also, if you haven't got the beer to a cooler location, do so now, you won't ruin it being in 80-85F temps for a little while, but it won't help anything, and sitting in those temps for too long will negatively impact the beer.

I'd say you can let it sit for a few more days, let it condition more and mellow more, and then bottle. I just would hate for you to bottle a beer that isn't fermented completely and get bottle bombs (what's that? search the site for bottle bombs), but those are pretty rare and you shouldn't worry too much. Really the best thing to do is take a gravity reading, a hydrometer should only cost ~$10 if don't have one or can't borrow one.

If you haven't done this yet I'd STRONGLY suggest reading the first 11 chapters of this book, it will be well worth your time and if you're brewing your own beer you should find it quite interesting too:

http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html

Good luck

uwmgdman said:

I'd say you can let it sit for a few more days, let it condition more and mellow more, and then bottle. I just would hate for you to bottle a beer that isn't fermented completely and get bottle bombs (what's that? search the site for bottle bombs), but those are pretty rare and you shouldn't worry too much. Really the best thing to do is take a gravity reading, a hydrometer should only cost ~$10 if don't have one or can't borrow one.

Click to expand...

If you are worried, and you have someplace a little cooler to stash the beer, I'd rack it to a secondary fermenter for a while. If the fermentation isn't complete, it will give it more time to finish. It'll give the beer more of a chance to age and for the bitterness to mellow. Even just a week would help a lot. It should be fine if you bottle, but a modest investment in a carboy to use as a secondary ought to result in a much better final product.

Dang, thanks for all of the helpful advise. I will invest in a hydrometer and test today. I'm still not sure where this mysterious opening could be where the CO2 has escaped, but thinking it has to do with the airlock as I've done a great bit sloshing of the wort without spillage. I have a secondary, so I'll probably rack today as well. Thanks ALL!!

So i have some good news for all whom responded. I just racked my non bubbling wort into the glass secondary and yes....it has started! I'm happy. I did buy a hydrometer so I will be taking a reading as soon as the yeast stops. There must have been a leak somewhere in the primary fermentor. Thanks again all!

Sounds like you're good to go, let us know the gravity reading.