Should I be nervous yet?

I have an IPA that went into primary 48 hours ago. OG was 1.062. I have zero activity in the airlock. Not even tiny bubbles. Its in a bucket and even if I push down on the lid the airlock doesn't move. I have not opened the fermenter to see if I have krausen.

I pitched a 1 liter starter using Wyeast Ringwood smack pack. The starter was 36 hours old when I pitched it and the entire starter process went perfectly.

The boil went perfectly. This is my 15th brew so I am not a complete noob.

The starter was 68 degrees and the wort was 68 when I pitched so everthing seems to be right on the money. The temperature of the wort for the last 48 hours has been between 68 and 70 degrees.

My question is should I be concerned yet and if not when should I be concerned? If this fermentation does not start on its own, what would you do to get it started? Thanks in advance for your help.

What did you do for aeration?

Sounds to me like it will eventually take off. I'd wait another day or two. Even if you forgot to aerate.

Drop a dip of olive oil in there and shake, then wait.

did you take a gravity reading? if the bucket has any kinda leak, the airlock will not bubble. you may have a beer at high krausen and not see a single bubble. best bet is to open up the bucket and look. if there's a krausen, or signs that there WAS a krausen, you're good. if not, take a gravity reading and if it's the same as the OG, wait another day or so to see if something happens.
FWIW, an airlock is a vent. it will or won't bubble at random. don't use a bubbling airlock, or lack thereof as a gauge of fermentation. only gravity readings can tell you if the yeast are doing their job.

The airlock not bubbling even when you push down on the lid seems to me like you have a leaky lid. Don't worry about the airlock.

^^^Beat me to it.

I aerated by stirring the wort for 4 minutes with a stir paddle. Sounds like my best bet is to open her up and check for a krausen. The last brew I had in this bucket blew the airlock off and spewed out around the lid. Had to make a bigger airlock for it. Thanks for all of your responses.

I'm in similar position. I definitely underpitched the yeast, but necessity dictated that error. It's been 72 hours since pitching for me and the SG hasn't changed at all. Not even vigorous agitation produces much effect. I hate this part of brewing.

Thanks guys. Just pulled the lid and there is a real nice healthy looking krausen. I appreciate all of your input. As usual I worry for no apparent reason!

klnosaj said:

I'm in similar position. I definitely underpitched the yeast, but necessity dictated that error. It's been 72 hours since pitching for me and the SG hasn't changed at all. Not even vigorous agitation produces much effect. I hate this part of brewing.

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confused as to how necessity dictates an underpitch? i'd say if you know you underpitched and have no change in gravity after 3 days, you may want to repitch the correct amount of yeast. see MrMalty.com for proper pitch rates for your beer.

Agree it could be a bad lid seal so opening it up and taking a reading is the only way to know for sure. I under pitched a couple weekends ago, took 4-5 days to "see" activity. I also hate buckets since you can't see whats going on and your dependent on the airlock for a visual sign without opening it up.

phuff7129 said:

Thanks guys. Just pulled the lid and there is a real nice healthy looking krausen. I appreciate all of your input. As usual I worry for no apparent reason!

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I'm guessing you buckets a BB Ale Pail. The lids with those seldom seal, I have two that don't ever seal. FWIW, I have a locking type lid like those on a paint bucket that came with my starter equipment set it has an o ring and actually snaps into place and seals.

NordeastBrewer77 said:

confused as to how necessity dictates an underpitch? i'd say if you know you underpitched and have no change in gravity after 3 days, you may want to repitch the correct amount of yeast. see MrMalty.com for proper pitch rates for your beer.

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I don't want to hijack this thread but I will respond to this question. Brewday was Wednesday and I couldn't make it to the LHBS before then and they had only two smack packs of the yeast I was going to use. SO it was either miss a brew day and not be able to brew for a couple more weeks or underpitch with what I had and hope for the best. I chose the latter but am not so sure I ever will again.

klnosaj said:

I don't want to hijack this thread but I will respond to this question. .

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Too late, as per your first post.

Two smack packs? What was your OG? Two packs is probably a bit low, but definitely enough yeast to get going in most beers. Unless your beer was really high grav, I'd bet something other than and underpitch is your issue. Out of curiosity, if you had yeast, why not just make a starter with one pack? That's the part of 'necessity dictating underpitch' that's confusing.

NordeastBrewer77 said:

Too late, as per your first post.

Two smack packs? What was your OG? Two packs is probably a bit low, but definitely enough yeast to get going in most beers. Unless your beer was really high grav, I'd bet something other than and underpitch is your issue. Out of curiosity, if you had yeast, why not just make a starter with one pack? That's the part of 'necessity dictating underpitch' that's confusing.

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In retrospect I realize I should've brewed the beer, put it in the primary, and started the starter to pitch it the next day. I'm actually a little baffled as to why I didn't do that. Alas. I'm not sure it would've helped in this instance, though, as there's something else amiss since there's still zero activity in the fermenter.

klnosaj said:

In retrospect I realize I should've brewed the beer, put it in the primary, and started the starter to pitch it the next day. I'm actually a little baffled as to why I didn't do that. Alas. I'm not sure it would've helped in this instance, though, as there's something else amiss since there's still zero activity in the fermenter.

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i'd say, two decently fresh packs should have 140-200 billion cells between them. even if that was an underpitch that many cells should be doing something. did you aerate well? what was the pitching temp? did the smack packs swell? i know those are vague questions, but it's really odd that it hasn't kicked off yet. i assume you've taken a gravity reading recently, so i'm as baffled as you.

NordeastBrewer77 said:

i'd say, two decently fresh packs should have 140-200 billion cells between them. even if that was an underpitch that many cells should be doing something. did you aerate well? what was the pitching temp? did the smack packs swell? i know those are vague questions, but it's really odd that it hasn't kicked off yet. i assume you've taken a gravity reading recently, so i'm as baffled as you.

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The smacks didn't inflate the way I'm accustomed to seeing them blow up. They were "smacked" in the AM and left to swell at 68 F for over 3 hours. The wort was double aerated because I pushed the bung into the carboy and immediately had to transfer everything to a new better bottle. I pitched at 62 and have kept it there in order to help it get itself started before lowering it to fermentation temps. Gravity has not changed one bit.

Dude at the LHBS, who is a brewing savant, told me to give it another 48 hours. Since the store is closed tomorrow I guess I'll have to now.

Let me know if you think of anything else.

klnosaj said:

The smacks didn't inflate the way I'm accustomed to seeing them blow up. They were "smacked" in the AM and left to swell at 68 F for over 3 hours. The wort was double aerated because I pushed the bung into the carboy and immediately had to transfer everything to a new better bottle. I pitched at 62 and have kept it there in order to help it get itself started before lowering it to fermentation temps. Gravity has not changed one bit.

Dude at the LHBS, who is a brewing savant, told me to give it another 48 hours. Since the store is closed tomorrow I guess I'll have to now.

Let me know if you think of anything else.

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very odd indeed. the swelling of smack packs is so random, i've seen two packs of the same yeast with the same date smacked at the same time (ok, i smacked one, then the other, but still) inflate differently side by side. if they swelled some in 3 hours, they're s'posed to be good.
ya know, i'm always one to say wait and see with things like this, but i totally get why you'd be fretting, i would be. not to nit pick, but was there anything else about this brew or your process that were new to you? like something that could be playing into this? i know that seems like a really unlikely reason, but it sounds like everything else is normal, aside from the not fermenting thing.

klnosaj said:

The wort was double aerated because I pushed the bung into the carboy and immediately had to transfer everything to a new better bottle.
Let me know if you think of anything else.

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ok, so i was thinking about this and talking with my wife about how odd it is, and the above statement dawned on me. you said if i think of anything else, let ya know. so i thought of something... had you already pitched at this point?
i'm definitely not saying this caused anything, i've pitched a brew then transferred to another vessel because of a crack in the carboy. but, it is a hiccup in the process, and if when you racked to the new carboy the yeast was all at the bottom and you didn't notice it and stir it before racking, it could've been left behind. you would know if this is a possibility or not if anything was left behind in the transfer. other than that, i'm blank. if it were me in your situation, i'd RDWHAHB until the LHBS is open again and repitch.

NordeastBrewer77 said:

ok, so i was thinking about this and talking with my wife about how odd it is, and the above statement dawned on me. you said if i think of anything else, let ya know. so i thought of something... had you already pitched at this point?
i'm definitely not saying this caused anything, i've pitched a brew then transferred to another vessel because of a crack in the carboy. but, it is a hiccup in the process, and if when you racked to the new carboy the yeast was all at the bottom and you didn't notice it and stir it before racking, it could've been left behind. you would know if this is a possibility or not if anything was left behind in the transfer. other than that, i'm blank. if it were me in your situation, i'd RDWHAHB until the LHBS is open again and repitch.

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This is the only thing that keeps occurring to me, too. I've been brewing for a little while and have made around a score of all-grain brews so I'm not a total noob....That's why I'm so flummoxed. Thanks a lot for lending me your ears and your insight!

And again, apologies to OP for hi-jacking.