Lalvin ec-1118

I just brewed a true brew red ale kit. I think I got dead yeast with the kit. This is about my 6th or 7th kit beer and I haven't had his problem yet. I pitched the yeast at about 75degrees. I let it sit in my conical for 5 days and there was no air lock activity

I went by a wine shop today on the way home and the only yeast hey had was ec-1118 the guy there said that is the yeast they use for everything they make including beer.

I took the lid off the conical and there was no krausen or anything so I pitched a pack of the lalvin. Any thoughts on what this might do to my brew?

Dubbs112 said:

Any thoughts on what this might do to my brew?

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It will make alcohol. It will also probably not taste like any other beer you've had, if that original yeast was indeed dead.

Why did you repitch without taking a gravity sample? Best case scenario, the original yeast did their work, and there won't be much of anything for the champaign yeast to do.

I have just been lucky so far I guess. I just brew the kits according to instruction and clean/sanitize meticulously. I have not ever taken an gravity readings and I already tossed out the papers to know where it should have been.

I guess I need to up my game a little to be ready to adjust for these types of issues.

Checking gravity is a bit like a seat belt; most of the time, it's not really necessary, but it'll save your butt on that one time you really need it. I used to bottle and check FG after the fact, from a sample I'd take from the bottling bucket. All of my fermentations had always gone well enough, to that point. Then one day, I bottled a beer that finished at 1.050. That's not a typo. Needless to say, I wish I had checked that gravity before bottling.

Next time you order something, get an extra dry pack of yeast - US-05, Nottingham, something like that. Kept in your fridge, it'll last for 3-4 years, at least, and you never know when you might need it.

Well on my way home today I grabbed a hydrometer and after a couple readings I see that it is at 1.018. I looked at the kit instructions online and the goal was 1.012 - 1.014. So I guess that I can at least be sure that it did actually ferment. Even now after adding the lalvin there is no airlock activity so hopefully you were right and the original yeast actually did something.

This has been a very strange kit for me not like any of the others, I cant wait to keg it and see what its like.

Airlock activity only means that, when it's happening, CO2 is escaping from the liquid. It really doesn't mean the beer is currently fermenting or has/hasn't fermented. While I'm guilty of occasionally bottling without taking a reading, I almost always do and have been surprised to see some batches have finished brewing in only two days, and I never witnessed airlock activity.

Anyway, enjoy!