Lazy Lazy Yeast

I Brewed a simple pale ale a week and a half ago - 4 hours after pitching the yeast (US-05) we were slowly bubbling away. I came back down to the basement to check on progress the next day and discovered no activity at all. The airlock was flat (suggesting no co2 pressure).

So I gave it a nice swirl, a smack or two and suggestion to stop being so lazy. Now almost a week later and there is still airlock activity, bubbles now and again and plenty of pressure.

Lazy yeast.

It probably fermented out in a day. The yeast can still be active, and actively fermenting your beer without enough CO2 emission to offset the blanked already over your beer. At what temp are you fermenting? What temp did you pitch the yeast?

The only way to tell is by a hydrometer. From what you are describing though, you need to RDWHAHB and wait another week or 2. Don't swirl any more. You are just inviting oxygen to the party.

Edcculus said:

It probably fermented out in a day. The yeast can still be active, and actively fermenting your beer without enough CO2 emission to offset the blanked already over your beer. At what temp are you fermenting? What temp did you pitch the yeast?

The only way to tell is by a hydrometer. From what you are describing though, you need to RDWHAHB and wait another week or 2. Don't swirl any more. You are just inviting oxygen to the party.

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he said after siwrling it took right off and has been going for a week since. Just needed a kick in teh butt. Sounds like it wasn't aerated enough to begin with.

REVVY take it away!!!!!!!

I guess I didn't relax and have a homebrew quick enough. I was just concerned by the flat airlock (never saw that before). I don't use a secondary so usually the brew sits for 3 weeks on the yeast cake and then after bottling 3 weeks before consumption.

I guess its easy to over analyze the situation, but I thought that if the airlock wasn't up then there might not be co2 keeping that o2 away. I could have taken a hydro reading, but I didn't want to add one more contamination step so early on in the process.

My last 4 or 5 batches I have been letting the beer sit on the yeast cake for the full 3 weeks and I've noticed that the finished product tastes considerably better than my old 1 to 2 week method. Plus the patience to wait another 3 weeks while its in the bottle makes it all the better.

tdavisii said:

REVVY take it away!!!!!!!

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I'm having deja vu....I swear we all answered with our usual answers yesterday...

Bubbles mean nothing....EVER...use your hydrometer, your beer probably finished out...leave it alone for another couple weeks, to clean up after itself.....and go read my blogs, especially the one about Evaluation before action, and the one about patience...Click on the number under my name, that says blogs, to edumacate yourself on stuff.

oh, and your beer is fine..it's you who aren't... You have a mental illness known as n00bitus....It's fairly common...

The easiest cure is to brew more so you forget about the beer in your fermenter long enough for the yeast to do the job it's been doing for 2,000 + years....it has it's own timeframe, not yours....

So I guess all this post needs now s the pictures....





mod edit- pic not work safe (nice pic, though!)

(How's that???)

Words are one thing but i sure am glad you used those pics. That really gets the point across in a way i just couldnt rap my mind around.

Revvy said:

You have a mental illness known as n00bitus....It's fairly common...

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For my 100th post I think it most appropriate to thank you Revvy.

I guess the only cure for n00bitus is to brew more beer. Well, that and drink more homebrew.

landis said:

For my 100th post I think it most appropriate to thank you Revvy.

I guess the only cure for n00bitus is to brew more beer. Well, that and drink more homebrew.

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Thanks!!!!

:rockin: