i also have a similar thread on the nb forum, but their forum seems to not get a ton of traffic and any advice i have gotten does not seem to be from the most experienced brewers so i bring this here.
i brewed the nb extract bavarian heffeveissen kit on the 30th using the appropriate wyeast liguid pack. this is my second ever brew and my first one turned out fine, but i am onto 36+ hours in the fermentor at this time and my yeast had fallen to form a yeast cake since the first time i checked it 12 hours in with zero airlock activity at that time. that is the point i started to get slightly worried. i then had a short period where my airlock was actually drawing air into the carboy for awhile and then it stopped again. i just now took a hydrometer reading, my og after boil and aeration was 1.048 right on the money for what the directions said, but now after 36+ hours my reading is coming out to 1.055. i am going to go ahead and assume that my yeast is dead.
i have only 3 theories that i can think of that caused this.
1. i had my yeast pack sanitizing in too warm of water, ~115f for 10-20 minutes
2. i used a slightly different process to top off my carboy. after i cooled my wort in an ice bath to being only warm to the touch, i poured in. i then boiled 3 gallons of tap water and also cooled much slower in my sink to slightly warmer than what the wort was bc at this point my wort had 30-40 minutes to further cool. when done and topped off i was at a nice warm temp for my hydro reading maybe 80-90.
3. the yeast was dead before i even got it.
anyways i now have some questions about where to go from here.
how long will my wort hold for without repitching?
should i remove my wort off the old yeast cake? maybe boil it again if necessary?
i brewed the nb extract bavarian heffeveissen kit on the 30th using the appropriate wyeast liguid pack. this is my second ever brew and my first one turned out fine, but i am onto 36+ hours in the fermentor at this time and my yeast had fallen to form a yeast cake since the first time i checked it 12 hours in with zero airlock activity at that time. that is the point i started to get slightly worried. i then had a short period where my airlock was actually drawing air into the carboy for awhile and then it stopped again. i just now took a hydrometer reading, my og after boil and aeration was 1.048 right on the money for what the directions said, but now after 36+ hours my reading is coming out to 1.055. i am going to go ahead and assume that my yeast is dead.
i have only 3 theories that i can think of that caused this.
1. i had my yeast pack sanitizing in too warm of water, ~115f for 10-20 minutes
2. i used a slightly different process to top off my carboy. after i cooled my wort in an ice bath to being only warm to the touch, i poured in. i then boiled 3 gallons of tap water and also cooled much slower in my sink to slightly warmer than what the wort was bc at this point my wort had 30-40 minutes to further cool. when done and topped off i was at a nice warm temp for my hydro reading maybe 80-90.
3. the yeast was dead before i even got it.
anyways i now have some questions about where to go from here.
how long will my wort hold for without repitching?
should i remove my wort off the old yeast cake? maybe boil it again if necessary?