Ok, my neighbor and I made two variants of Brandon o's graff. I hydrated two packets of yeast in the same glass and split it between the two brews. 24 hours in one is ticking away, one is not. They have similar gravities, and the one going was a 3 gallon, the one NOT going is a 4 gallon. Both in 5 gallon plastic buckets. Any ideas what is going on???
Two batches made at the same time, one fermenting, one not
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I had a similar issue this weekend. Pitched into two 5-gallon batches at the same time. At 24 hours, one was fermenting vigorously, into the blowoff tube. The other was not doing anything. Waited a few hours and the second was rolling along nicely. I'd say wait it out a bit and see what happens.
That's just the wildcard nature of our yeasty friends.
There is nothing "typical" in brewing...every fermentation is different, and should not be used to compare one with another...you can't do that.
No two fermentations are ever exactly the same.
When we are dealing with living creatures, there is a wild card factor in play..Just like with other animals, including humans...No two behave the same.
You can split a batch in half put them in 2 identical carboys, and pitch equal amounts of yeast from the same starter...and have them act completely differently...for some reason on a subatomic level...think about it...yeasties are small...1 degree difference in temp to us, could be a 50 degree difference to them...one fermenter can be a couple degrees warmer because it's closer to a vent all the way across the room and the yeasties take off...
Someone, Grinder I think posted a pic once of 2 carboys touching each other, and one one of the carboys the krausen had formed only on the side that touched the other carboy...probably reacting to the heat of the first fermentation....but it was like symbiotic or something...
With living micro-organisms there is always a wildcard factor in play...and yet the yeast rarely lets us down. So it is best just to rdwhahb and trust that they know to what they are doing. It sounds like you are brewing by a calendar, or instructions and not by what your beer is really doing, the problem is that yeast don't know how to read so they seldom follow their scripts. They dance to their own tune and its seldom 4 x 4 Time.
Don't assume the worst with the yeast, realize that they've been making beer since long before our great great great grandfather copped his first buzz from a 40 of mickey's out back of the highschool, so they are the experts.
Yeasts are like teenagers, swmbos, and humans in general, they have their own individual way of doing things.
And worrying because it's not happening how fast or slow you think it should be is really not worth the energy.
It may not be what you expected it to be but that doesn't mean anything's wrong.
And remember, as the sticky says, fermentation can take 24 to 72 hours.
And that doesn't mean airlock bubbling...that means numbers on a hydrometer....
There is nothing "typical" in brewing...every fermentation is different, and should not be used to compare one with another...you can't do that.
No two fermentations are ever exactly the same.
When we are dealing with living creatures, there is a wild card factor in play..Just like with other animals, including humans...No two behave the same.
You can split a batch in half put them in 2 identical carboys, and pitch equal amounts of yeast from the same starter...and have them act completely differently...for some reason on a subatomic level...think about it...yeasties are small...1 degree difference in temp to us, could be a 50 degree difference to them...one fermenter can be a couple degrees warmer because it's closer to a vent all the way across the room and the yeasties take off...
Someone, Grinder I think posted a pic once of 2 carboys touching each other, and one one of the carboys the krausen had formed only on the side that touched the other carboy...probably reacting to the heat of the first fermentation....but it was like symbiotic or something...
With living micro-organisms there is always a wildcard factor in play...and yet the yeast rarely lets us down. So it is best just to rdwhahb and trust that they know to what they are doing. It sounds like you are brewing by a calendar, or instructions and not by what your beer is really doing, the problem is that yeast don't know how to read so they seldom follow their scripts. They dance to their own tune and its seldom 4 x 4 Time.
Don't assume the worst with the yeast, realize that they've been making beer since long before our great great great grandfather copped his first buzz from a 40 of mickey's out back of the highschool, so they are the experts.
Yeasts are like teenagers, swmbos, and humans in general, they have their own individual way of doing things.
And worrying because it's not happening how fast or slow you think it should be is really not worth the energy.
It may not be what you expected it to be but that doesn't mean anything's wrong.
And remember, as the sticky says, fermentation can take 24 to 72 hours.
And that doesn't mean airlock bubbling...that means numbers on a hydrometer....
I would actually even say I was a little worried about the non-active batch when I first saw it. It had grey globs of what I would call "snot" floating around. It was pretty nasty. I always read on this forum to wait and see, so I waited, and in just a few hours all was looking and acting like I had expected.
Hope all turns out well for you. I am sure it will.
Hope all turns out well for you. I am sure it will.
Much as would be expected, the second one took off and is now blowing out Co2 as fast as the first. Good advice on here, as usual. I guess the more you brew, the more you see, the better your insights into these differences.
