Fermentation woes

So on 3/16 I brewed up my second brew, a Brewer's Best English Brown Ale kit. I made a couple of mistakes during the brew. First, I steeped the grains at far too high a temperature(near boiling) i believe. I read afterwards where this is problematic, although when I brewed my pale ale a few weeks ago I did the same thing and the beer tastes great. Second, I re hydrated the yeast with water that was far too hot ( about 150 degrees). I put this in the fermenter and it bubbled a few times in the first 2 days and thats it. I chalked it up to being that I killed the yeast when the water was at a high temperature. I consulted with my brewing expert buddy and he said to try putting a new batch of yeast in. I had a pack of Nottingham yeast from another kit, re hydrated it, and put it in the fermenter. That was 10:00 AM yesterday, and no signs of fermentation have began. I know these were rookie mistakes that I made, but what should be my course of action at this point?

wait........

OHIOSTEVE said:

wait........

Click to expand...

Yep.....wait. I've had fermentations take three and four days to kick off. I too JUST KNEW that I had ruined them but I was always wrong.

Don't use the airlock as any indication of fermentation. My first brew didn't bubble at all, my second bubbled like mad. If it doesn't bubble its probably just a slight air-leak. Take a look in a few days and see if you see a krausen and in a week or so take a hydrometer reading and see if its getting close to the target.

And I've found making beer to be quite forgiving to mistakes like you made. I've made some on my first two batches and they still taste wonderful. Sure the beer may not be perfect but it still tastes better than any of the BMC beers.

Waiting is good! Hard sometimes, but good!
Nothing wrong with making misakes, how else would we learn.
Keep on brewing!

Well its been about 36 hours since I put the second batch of yeast in. There is no krausen and no bubbles in the airlock. I don't mind the wait at all. How long is too long though. I should be worrying about infections and other trouble after a certain time period, right?

give it 3-4 days for yeast addition. Sometimes it takes a while. No worries. RDWHAHB

unfnole23 said:

Well its been about 36 hours since I put the second batch of yeast in. There is no krausen and no bubbles in the airlock. I don't mind the wait at all. How long is too long though. I should be worrying about infections and other trouble after a certain time period, right?

Click to expand...

How's your gravity looking?

I've yet to see a dry yeast pitch not work, excepting a few cases where I did completely inappropriate stuff like pitch yeast with Campden tablets or pitch into Pasteurization temperatures.

unfnole23 said:

Well its been about 36 hours since I put the second batch of yeast in. There is no krausen and no bubbles in the airlock. I don't mind the wait at all. How long is too long though. I should be worrying about infections and other trouble after a certain time period, right?

Click to expand...

The only time I've ever seen a fermentation not start was the first beer I ever brewed. I pitched the yeast and then stuck the fermenter in a closet in my house that never got above 45 degrees. I even re-pitched and NOTHING. LOL!

As long as your ambient temp in the brewing area is 60f+, I wouldn't worry about it. It's gonna' start!

I've had several batches ferment right down to the target FG without one burp in the airlock. Let it go for at least a week after pitching, then take a gravity reading. If it's way high, you might consider pitching a packet of dry yeast; otherwise let it sit for 2-3 more days and take another reading. In any event, two weeks in the primary is my minimum, and many more patient people let it sit for three weeks no matter what the gravity reading.

First thing I would do is take a gravity reading.

Second, if you got a decent initial fermentation that first 2 days, there might not be enough sugar left to cause a krausen (hard to believe though).

Without a gravity reading, we just can't assume anything about what's really happening.

Well Wednesday is the end of two weeks in the primary. There has been no airlock action and no krausen. I will take a gravity reading tomorrow. I sure hope this batch isn't all for naught.

Are you fermenting in a carboy or bucket?
I had a batch go for a few days without any airlock action so I did some investigation and found that the stopper I used did not fit the hole in the lid properly. I replaced with a different stopper and within a few minutes, lots of airlock action!
Or the lids on the buckets do not always snap tight enough to be "airtight".
Just a thought and good luck!!

It's in a carboy. I took a gravity reading and it came out to be 1.014 at a temperature of 70 degrees. What do you guys think?

unfnole23 said:

It's in a carboy. I took a gravity reading and it came out to be 1.014 at a temperature of 70 degrees. What do you guys think?

Click to expand...

I think your fermentation is done! Leave it for 1 more week, check your gravity again and if it hasn't budged then bottle it!

oh yeah, its bottling day!