Not getting any fermentation

I brewed a Dopplebock a few weeks back, it is my second attempt since it came out so well the first time. I had no problems brewing this one the first time.

On brew day my wort chiller worked a little too well and cooled the wort to about 65 degrees. I didn't think much about it at the time, aerated and pitched yeast as normal. The yeast I used was slightly past its best by date, as brew day got postponed due to hurricane Irene.

The next step of the recipe was to ferment for 12 days at 40 degrees. I put my carboy in the fermentation cabinet and waited for fermentation to begin. After a week of nothing I got scared and went to the homebrew shop. They thought since the yeast was old, and may have gotten warm when we lost power to the fridge, it was most likely bad yeast. Sounded logical. I asked if I would need to warm it back up before pitching and they said not to bother. So I bought another German Bock yeast and pitched it in my 40 degree wort when I got home. That was Sunday night and I still have not gotten a single bubble from the airlock.

Is there anything that can save my beer? Should I have warmed it up before pitching the yeast?

Any help is greatly appreciated, I would hate to have to dump this batch.

Thank you

avj3 said:

I brewed a Dopplebock a few weeks back, it is my second attempt since it came out so well the first time. I had no problems brewing this one the first time.

On brew day my wort chiller worked a little too well and cooled the wort to about 65 degrees. I didn't think much about it at the time, aerated and pitched yeast as normal. The yeast I used was slightly past its best by date, as brew day got postponed due to hurricane Irene.

The next step of the recipe was to ferment for 12 days at 40 degrees. I put my carboy in the fermentation cabinet and waited for fermentation to begin. After a week of nothing I got scared and went to the homebrew shop. They thought since the yeast was old, and may have gotten warm when we lost power to the fridge, it was most likely bad yeast. Sounded logical. I asked if I would need to warm it back up before pitching and they said not to bother. So I bought another German Bock yeast and pitched it in my 40 degree wort when I got home. That was Sunday night and I still have not gotten a single bubble from the airlock.

Is there anything that can save my beer? Should I have warmed it up before pitching the yeast?

Any help is greatly appreciated, I would hate to have to dump this batch.

Thank you

Click to expand...

Warm it up. The temp range for that yeast is 48 to 55

40s too cold and you vastly underpitched it. rouse the yeast and warm it up to around 50

holy cow, you normally need a boatload of yeast to properly ferment a doppelbock. I would make at least a 2- 3 liter starter first. I'm surprised your first one worked with no problems. In addition 40 is WAY too cold, I would think the yeast are hibernating. I pitch at 47-48 and let it settle at 50

How do you know its not fermenting? The airlock? That's not what its for. The airlock vents CO2...if you have a leaky bung, the airlock won't gurgle.