Beer Won't Ferment

Monday I brewed up a beer that got a little screwy. The OG was supposed to be 1.045 but I think I boiled it too vigerously because by OG was 1.059. It was also about .75 gallons less than I wanted but I thought oh well, it will just be a stronger beer. Anyways after I put it in the fermentor I pumped in some O2 until the foam was up to the lid, then threw in some White Labs American Ale Blend yeast. I let the yeast get to room temp before I pitched it and the temp of the wort was about 75 F but I haven't seen a single bubble out of my airlock. Am I missing something here, usually my beers are bubbling like crazy at this point but this one seems dead in the water. The ambient temperature around the beer is about 71 F.

I'm clueless as to what is going on here, does this yeast take its sweet @ss time or what?

How long ago did you do this?

If you are fermenting with a bucket, are you sure the lid is secured tightly? I have heard a lot of stories about bucket lids having a spot where it is not quite sealed and leaks.

If your primary is a bucket, make sure the lid is snapped down all the way- did the same thing a couple of weeks ago, made me pretty nervous after 24 hours and no activity. If it is, take a hydrometer sample. Airlocks are not the best way to judge fermentation.

Bigger beer and no starter = slow start. I expect it will be fine by tomorrow night.

I brewed the beer Monday (4/7/08) but haven't seen any activity yet.

Yesterday I made sure that the lid was snuggly on the bucket, I can't see any problems so thats why I was asking.

Here is a good thread discussing fermentation times.

david_42 said:

Bigger beer and no starter = slow start. I expect it will be fine by tomorrow night.

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agreed. bigger beer, underpitched, and if you pumped pure oxygen in there, you gave the yeast a lot of aeration for phase 1 of their life cycle...reproduction.

you should get a pretty vigorous fermentation, eventually, but I wouldn't panic until 72 hours after pitching...

I suspect tomorrow it'll be going. Or, both your vial were dead...another reason to only pitch one...into a starter...2 days in advance.

Ewalk02 said:

Monday I brewed up a beer that got a little screwy. The OG was supposed to be 1.045 but I think I boiled it too vigerously because by OG was 1.059. It was also about .75 gallons less than I wanted but I thought oh well, it will just be a stronger beer.

Click to expand...

You could have added water at the end of the boil?

Anyways after I put it in the fermentor I pumped in some O2 until the foam was up to the lid,

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Why, that's way over done, 60 seconds gives you the right amount - 8 to 15 PPM?

then threw in some White Labs American Ale Blend yeast. I let the yeast get to room temp before I pitched it and the temp of the wort was about 75 F but I haven't seen a single bubble out of my airlock. Am I missing something here, usually my beers are bubbling like crazy at this point but this one seems dead in the water. The ambient temperature around the beer is about 71 F.

I'm clueless as to what is going on here, does this yeast take its sweet @ss time or what?

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Maybe you killed them with oxygen, what do you think?

I'm pretty sure O2 won't "kill" them. They just can't scrub all the o2 out of the beer and you may end up with some oxidation. I donlt think foam to the lid would do that.

I don't know how long he had it in there do you? I bet it was way over 5 minutes. 5 minutes would be (15ppm x 5) or 75PPM or better.

WBC said:

I don't know how long he had it in there do you? I bet it was way over 5 minutes. 5 minutes would be (15ppm x 5) or 75PPM or better.

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Sorry mass transfer does not work linear like that. And the soulbilty limit is 40ppm for o2 in water.

Sorry for spelling I'm on my phone in class.