gravity reading after 48 hrs??

first off, before anyone jumps on me, i did read the thread "may take 48 to 72 hours..." but the 31 pages of replies and comments was honestly more than i have time to read. so, i know all hope is not necessarily lost. BUT, it has been close to 48 hours since pitching my belgian holiday ale (OG=1.088) which is also my first batch. it has been sitting there but shows no visible signs of fermentation. when would be an appropriate time to pop the lid off and take a gravity reading to confirm whether or not it is fermenting? should i go ahead and check after 72 hrs or does it really matter?

Try taking one at 72hrs. The 2 most important questions are did you pitch enough yeast??? and is the wort sitting at the correct temperature?? if you didnt pitch enough yeast It may eventually start but might have a lot of fusel alcohol flavors and possibly some other off flavors. I made a Russian imperial stout at 1.090 with just 2 yeast smack packs and it called for 4 packs or a huge starter. There was a 5 day lag!!! it finally started on the 5th day. I think I took a reading prior to that day and it was 1/4th of the way fermented! I’d imagine the cell count was too low to see any visible action but it was actually fermenting. The beer came out horrible though. No amount of aging could improve it. Don’t let that scare you! it may come out amazing. I'd say pitch more yeast if there is no drop in gravity at 72hrs. Make sure that temp is where it's supposed to be.

Good Luck

Two, three weeks. That high an OG, I wouldn't expect a krausen to form in 48 hours, maybe 4-5 days. You've started out in the deep end.

the recipe had the option for double pitching of white labs trappist yeast. i let both vials warm up for a few hours before pitching and then pitched them together. it recommended a starter, but i figured that was if i had only gotten 1 vial instead of 2?? not sure. plus, i didn't have time and was somewhat illprepared.

yes, i started off in the deep end. hahahaha! simply put, i decided to do this because 1) i LOVE belgians (beer that is) and 2) i want higher ABV brews! i figured might as well start and practice on them since that is what i'll be making most of the time. think i'm gonna try something that'll need less conditioning time for my next brew so i can go ahead and start drinking pretty soon. thanks for the help!

lpdb185 said:

the recipe had the option for double pitching of white labs trappist yeast. i let both vials warm up for a few hours before pitching and then pitched them together. it recommended a starter, but i figured that was if i had only gotten 1 vial instead of 2?? not sure. plus, i didn't have time and was somewhat illprepared.

yes, i started off in the deep end. hahahaha! simply put, i decided to do this because 1) i LOVE belgians (beer that is) and 2) i want higher ABV brews! i figured might as well start and practice on them since that is what i'll be making most of the time. think i'm gonna try something that'll need less conditioning time for my next brew so i can go ahead and start drinking pretty soon. thanks for the help!

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NP!

go to http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html and punch in 1.088 for Original gravity. You need about 300billion cells of yeast for that OG. Always make a starter when using liquid yeasts especially White labs vials. You pitched approx 160-200billion with the 2 vials. This is most likely the issue for this long lag.

it was only supposed to be 1.080 but i somehow overshot a bit. do i need to get another vial and throw it in now or just let it run it's course? will that keep it from reaching its full ABV potential?

thanks for the site too. i'll stick that in my favorites for reference later.

lpdb185 said:

it was only supposed to be 1.080 but i somehow overshot a bit. do i need to get another vial and throw it in now or just let it run it's course? will that keep it from reaching its full ABV potential?

thanks for the site too. i'll stick that in my favorites for reference later.

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I would imagine ABV would be affected. You can let it sit another day or 2 and if nothing pitch another 2 vials. First see if the OG dropped. If it didnt change at all i think you really should research making a yeast starter and dumping that starter in there.

UPDATE: so i took a reading and the gravity was decreasing, so i let it do its magic. after two and a half days of steady bubbling through the blowoff tube, it has slowed down significantly. like i said, this is my first batch so i wasn't sure if two or three days was long enough or not. anyway, i sanitized my hydrometer again and popped the lid for a reading. IT SMELLS LIKE LIQUID AWESOMENESS MIXED WITH A LITTLE HOT SEX!!!! 1.022 and still bubbling!!!! i was excited. started with 1.088 and it is supposed to get down to 1.015 FG. i believe at the rate it's going it will make it to that FG target. some people had me worried about starting off with such a high gravity brew, but it seems to be going pretty good so far (cross fingers). thanks everyone.

lpdb185 said:

UPDATE: so i took a reading and the gravity was decreasing, so i let it do its magic. after two and a half days of steady bubbling through the blowoff tube, it has slowed down significantly. like i said, this is my first batch so i wasn't sure if two or three days was long enough or not. anyway, i sanitized my hydrometer again and popped the lid for a reading. IT SMELLS LIKE LIQUID AWESOMENESS MIXED WITH A LITTLE HOT SEX!!!! 1.022 and still bubbling!!!! i was excited. started with 1.088 and it is supposed to get down to 1.015 FG. i believe at the rate it's going it will make it to that FG target. some people had me worried about starting off with such a high gravity brew, but it seems to be going pretty good so far (cross fingers). thanks everyone.

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SWEEEEEEEEETTT!! glad to hear that. Enjoy it.