Nothing happening ???

So i did a Amarillo APA Yesterday, finished around 1pm. I had a packet of Safale-04 in the fridge so i decided to use it (at room temp) I Pitched it right on top of the aerated wort @ 70 degrees, put the lid on and I have yet to see any action yet. Last time I used 04 it was blowin up after 12 hours or so. What should I do, if anything? One of my concerns is that i used a lid from another of my fermentor which seemed to be air tight, could it be the lid has a leak in it somewhere? Or should I just shut up and wait longer? It has been fermenting since 1/20/10 at 1pm and nothing is happening.

mike1978 said:

So i did a Amarillo APA Yesterday, finished around 1pm. I had a packet of Safale-04 in the fridge so i decided to use it (at room temp) I Pitched it right on top of the aerated wort @ 70 degrees, put the lid on and I have yet to see any action yet. Last time I used 04 it was blowin up after 12 hours or so. What should I do, if anything? One of my concerns is that i used a lid from another of my fermentor which seemed to be air tight, could it be the lid has a leak in it somewhere? Or should I just shut up and wait longer? It has been fermenting since 1/20/10 at 1pm and nothing is happening.

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wait!! i ha a similar issue a few weeks ago.I did not see any action until the fourth day.I bet you wil have some critters in a couple days.

critters??????

S-04 has a tendency to start a bit slow, though less than 36 hours is not slow. Patience, grasshopper.

mike1978 said:

critters??????

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Yeastie babies!!

Thank you Sensei, you are wise.

I could be wrong here, but my intuition says walk...

no,

RUN and get a fresh batch of yeast and re-pitch ASAP.

This assumes your hardware/fermenter/airlock system is airtight.

Good luck. I hope it works out.

Shut up and wait longer.

First, fermentation can take up to 72 hours for the yeasties to start, it's called lag time. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/fermentation-can-take-24-72-hrs-show-visible-signs-43635/

But by visible signs they DON'T mean airlock activity.

Your airlock is not a fermentation gauge, it is a VALVE to release excess co2.

If your airlock was bubbling and stopped---It doesn't mean fermentation has stopped.

If you airlock isn't bubbling, it doesn't mean your fermentation hasn't started....

If your airlock starts bubbling, it really doesn't matter.

If your airlock NEVER bubbles, it doesn't mean anything is wrong or right.

The only way to truly know what is going on in your fermenter is with your hydrometer. Like I said here in my blog, which I encourage you to read, Think evaluation before action you sure as HELL wouldn't want a doctor to start cutting on you unless he used the proper diagnostic instuments like x-rays first, right? You wouldn't want him to just take a look in your eyes briefly and say "I'm cutting into your chest first thing in the morning." You would want them to use the right diagnostic tools before the slice and dice, right? You'd cry malpractice, I would hope, if they didn't say they were sending you for an MRI and other things before going in....

Thinking about "doing anything" without taking a hydrometer reading is tantamount to the doctor deciding to cut you open without running any diagnostic tests....Taking one look at you and saying, "Yeah I'm going in." You would really want the doctor to use all means to properly diagnose what's going on. It's exactly the same thing when you try to go by airlock....

You'll be much happier if you get out of that habit...you will find that fermentations rarely don't take off, or just Stop...In fact I've never had a beer not ferment. BUT half of my fermentations, spread out across 9 different fermenters, never blip once in the airlock.

Fermentation is not always "dynamic," just because you don't SEE anything happening, doesn't mean that any-thing's wrong,, and also doesn't mean that the yeast are still not working diligently away, doing what they've been doing for over 4,000 years..

So, Relax, then wait 72 hours and take a hydrometer, and you'll see, more than likely that everything is fin...it is fine 99.95% of the time.

72 hours later and nothing happening. About to take a hydro reading.


Ok, so this is what just happened..........

I popped open the bucket and took a hydrometer reading and it is 1022, upon further investigating I found a dead Bee floating in the brew. I guess he got in there at some point during the brew process because I brew outside. WTF do I do, is it ok or screwed. Should I re pitch some yeast or just check it again tomorrow or the next day? Or, just re name the beer Dead Bee APA.

I was waiting for the revvy post

1.022 means it's fermenting fine.....so there WAS something happening.

There's no reason to pitch more yeast as it is clearly fermenting.

Like what happens 99.9% of the time when someone starts a thread like this, you were looking for the wrong signs.....

As to the dead bee, sanitize a spoon and get it out of there.

More than likely it died during the boil and was sanitized....So you still should be ok.

But i would start thinking of a cute name for this beer that worked the dead bee theme into it.

mike1978 said:

72 hours later and nothing happening. About to take a hydro reading.


Ok, so this is what just happened..........

I popped open the bucket and took a hydrometer reading and it is 1022, upon further investigating I found a dead Bee floating in the brew. I guess he got in there at some point during the brew process because I brew outside. WTF do I do, is it ok or screwed. Should I re pitch some yeast or just check it again tomorrow or the next day? Or, just re name the beer Dead Bee APA.

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rename it! i have a friend that is a bee keeper and also brews he had the same thing happen.He lremoved the bee and let the beer finish and named
it bill's bee ale.it tasted fine Check it again tomorow or just leave it alone.
the more you open it the easier it could get infected.

Yeah, this was the first brew in a year that i did without any VISUSAL signs of fermentatiom so I got worried, thanks for the knowledge Revvy. I beelieve this beer will be called Drunken Bee APA.

Well if you read my blog you will see that the only visual cues you should pay attention too are the numbers on your hydrometer, and possible the signs of a krausen...NOT a blip in an arilock.

Always learning something new.

Correction, this beer has been dubbed, "The Pollination."

During the last 15 min of boil, add one Live Bee.