No yeast activity...HELP!!!

So Saturday I brewed a all grain Oatmeal Stout. Finished up around 8pm and pitched White Labs British Ale yeast. Storing it in the basement where the temp reads 66 degrees. Today (Sunday) at about 2pm I looked at the batch and still see no yeast activity. I talked to a buddy of mine and he said that the yeast is going to take its time and start to activate at a slow rate.

Should I be worried?
How long do you believe it takes for this yeast to start up?
Should I think about re-pitching the yeast?

Any help/advice would be great...thank you

You have a lot of time before you should start to worry.

Did you make a starter by any chance? Are the temps consistently at 66 or do they drop at night?

We did not get a chance to make a starter because time was tight.
The temp seems to stay at 66 even through the night because we have a basement heater going.

it can take up to 72 hours for fermentation to start. RDWHAHB.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/fermentation-can-take-24-72-hrs-start-43635/

You should always make a starter when using liquid yeast. You are underpitching which can lead to off flavors.

Ok...I will wait and see what happens. If by Wednesday I see no activity I will take a reading. See ive never used White Labs as I usually use Wyeast smack packs.

BrianTheBrewer said:

Ok...I will wait and see what happens. If by Wednesday I see no activity I will take a reading. See ive never used White Labs as I usually use Wyeast smack packs.

Click to expand...

Even with those you should use a starter

Yes I understand making a starter would have helped but I honestly had no time to do so as time was very tight all day.

get a gravity reading in a few days and then decide to repitch

That's when I turn to dry yeast. I don't like underpitching.

I use White labs almost exclusively and I have found that without making a starter it typically takes at least 48 hours for fermentation to become visible. I would not worry about a slow start for several days.

Ok, thank you all for all the advice/info. Im going to see what happens in the next few days before I really start to worry.

Well I just got home from work and the temp says that the fermenter is 70 degrees which is great but there is still no action. So im going to give it till Tuesday night and if its still the same with no activity then I will repitch.

BrianTheBrewer said:

Well I just got home from work and the temp says that the fermenter is 70 degrees which is great but there is still no action. So im going to give it till Tuesday night and if its still the same with no activity then I will repitch.

Click to expand...

It's not even been 24 hours........

First the quote...

PseudoChef said:

Fermentation can take 24 to 72 hrs to start.

Click to expand...

Then the repeat....

Fermentation can take 24 to 72 hrs to start.

RDWHAHB.. Just give it some time.

Ok...I get it

I think im just excited to see it get going because this is the first all grain recipe I put togeather and actually brewed where I understood what was going on.

you'll get home tomorrow and that thing will have blown the airlock off and be going crazy. just gotta think positive. :cross:

SilverKing said:

you'll get home tomorrow and that thing will have blown the airlock off and be going crazy. just gotta think positive. :cross:

Click to expand...

Thanks man...

i just brewed my oatmeal stout and same thing with mine no activity was wondering if i should repitch myself so i wen to the homebrew shop and they said give a stir and see what happens if nothing then repitch with some dry yeast

I would dump it. If beer has not taken off withing 12 hours it WILL NOT be good.
Is that what you wanted to hear? because you're aren't listening obviously to everyone else telling you to be patient! Give it time, you under pitched, the yeast need time to reproduce before they can get to work, Did you aerate well ? You'll need lots of 0xygen in there from under pitching.

I did this the first time I used liquid yeast, and didn't make a starter. My excuse was Ike killed my yeast, and I had to go and purchase more.

It takes about 20 minutes to make a starter, and you can make it up to 3 or 4 days ahead of time.

I think the lesson that can be learned is that once you've transfered your wort to the fermentor and pitched your yeast, you've done all you can. Let the yeast take over!

Well I just got home from work and its now been 48 hours and still nothing so im going to give it one more day and then we will see what happens.

It should be fine Brian... that same thing happened my IPA...

to repinch or not to repinch that is the quesiton... it should be ok as is but unfortunatly you could of got a bad thing of yeast... happens sometimes... i think... i always used dry yeast because its avaible easily and can be stored in a regular cupbord for months... who knows... i certinly dont know...

BrianTheBrewer said:

Well I just got home from work and its now been 48 hours and still nothing so im going to give it one more day and then we will see what happens.

Click to expand...

I've been following your troubles Brian. I have been brewing a long time and in that time I have never had a fermentation take longer than 48 hours. UNTIL . . .

Actually until I started working with liguid yeasts. I love them for the variety but the lag time can be a killer.

I brewed on Friday. Didn't have time to do a starter so I just added my yeast to starter solution when I started the mash. Pitched it around 6:00 pm Friday. Saturday morning, nothing. No problem at all. Saturday night, nothing. No problem, sorta. Sunday morning, nothing? Darn. Ok, a little problem. Sunday night, still nothing and I have to admit I am worried even though I have never had a completely dead yeast pack in over over 200 brews.

Monday at noon (66 hours), still nothing. The only thing that kept me from repitching is that I really want this fermented with the yeast in the carboy.

I check again at 4:30, which is 70.5 hours, and guess what?!? Bubbles ringing the carboy! At 6:00 and exactly 72 hours I have a full light krauesen and steady airlock activity.

Lesson learned? I will always have time to do a starter from now on.

I'm experiencing similar problems with my Wee Heavy batch right now. Although with me I pitched my yeast 4 days ago, they started off like hot cakes with tons of activity and a thick layer of Krausen on the surface (after 24 hours) and now they are not bubbling at all and the Krausen has fallen. My temperature has been a steady 65 degrees. I'm guessing maybe that I didn't get enough sugars out of my mash. I don't know what could have gone wrong. I'm new at this. If I could get some feed back it would be appreciated. Thanks!

Thanks!

Joe

I had a similar situation. I brewed up a Chocolate Raspberry Oatmeal Stout on Saturday and I used the White Labs as well (my first time with this yeast). I did not make a starter and I also did not leave it un refrigerated for the 2-3 hrs that it said on the label. I also leave my heat on at 57F in the house. I wrapped the carboy in my North Face sleeping bag to keep it warm. Sunday came and a slight bubbling at best. Then late Sunday night it went off like crazy. I did notice that it did nit have the level of Kraussen that I am accustomed to seeing in the other beers I brewed. I also noticed that there were un popped bubbles on the top of the wort. (something else I have never seen before). When I pitched the WL I noticed a big ball of hardened yeast in the vial as I was pouring it in. I oxygenated the hell out of the thing with O2. I have not noticed any strange funkiness so far so I am calling it good

In the past when I have not made a starter I had problems and so ever since I have made starters with a nutrient and oxygen. If you don't have a magnetic stirrer then just shake it up every chance you get to keep the yeast in suspension. If you pitch yeast in the proper quantity from a starter made using the above method your brews will start fermenting within 4 to 10 hours and they will finish at the proper gravity because they do not have to spend time making babies. I have also found that starters made from fresh wort made from grain has more nutrients available to the yeast and it performs better than starters made from DME. It does not take much time to make a starter and most of us do not want to bother with a starter but will take plenty of time to complain about their fermentation lag time on this forum. You don't need a fancy flask but do need dedication to brewing good beer.

Well I just woke up a little while ago and went to my basement. POW!!!!! We have fermentation and a ton of activity. Temp is reading 70 degrees.

So most of you were right. It took a little less then 2 1/2 days to get the yeast going but now that its going it looks great.

Thank you all so much for all the advice.

- Brian

WBC said:

In the past when I have not made a starter I had problems and so ever since I have made starters with a nutrient and oxygen. If you don't have a magnetic stirrer then just shake it up every chance you get to keep the yeast in suspension. If you pitch yeast in the proper quantity from a starter made using the above method your brews will start fermenting within 4 to 10 hours and they will finish at the proper gravity because they do not have to spend time making babies. I have also found that starters made from fresh wort made from grain has more nutrients available to the yeast and it performs better than starters made from DME. It does not take much time to make a starter and most of us do not want to bother with a starter but will take plenty of time to complain about their fermentation lag time on this forum. You don't need a fancy flask but do need dedication to brewing good beer.

Click to expand...

I hear you. This is the last time I use WL without a starter.

Tell me about this AG starter wort. Do you make a wort stockpile to use for your starters? I can see making a batch of wort from a few pounds of grain and storing it in the fridge for multiple starter batches but if I had to do a "mini-mash" each time I did a starter this seems like a ton of extra effort.

dontman said:

I hear you. This is the last time I use WL without a starter.

Tell me about this AG starter wort. Do you make a wort stockpile to use for your starters? I can see making a batch of wort from a few pounds of grain and storing it in the fridge for multiple starter batches but if I had to do a "mini-mash" each time I did a starter this seems like a ton of extra effort.

Click to expand...

From what I understand, the most effective manner to do a starter is to use dried malt extract to get a gravity of around 1.04. Obviously, the amount of DME used depends on your desired starter volume. Also, many have said that if you want to store your wort from a brew session for a longer period of time, you really need to use a pressure cooker to get above 250*F to kill off absolutely everything. There are people here that know much much more about starters than me, so this is just what I've absorbed from HBT so far...

NoClueBrewMaster said:

From what I understand, the most effective manner to do a starter is to use dried malt extract to get a gravity of around 1.04. Obviously, the amount of DME used depends on your desired starter volume. Also, many have said that if you want to store your wort from a brew session for a longer period of time, you really need to use a pressure cooker to get above 250*F to kill off absolutely everything. There are people here that know much much more about starters than me, so this is just what I've absorbed from HBT so far...

Click to expand...

Just to be clear, my question was actually very specific to the "AG" version of starters. I make starters with DME all of the time and they are easy to throw together an hour before pitching the yeast. What I have not done is make a starter wort from grain because that would take a couple hours plus a lot of clean up which to me, would not be worth it unless I could do a couple gallons worth, (the wort not the starter) and store it in the fridge for multiple batches.

I can't see using a pressure cooker in the way you described. 2 things: Sugar begins caramelization at 212 and this process continues up through 236 where it becomes a medium caramel and 250 where it becomes a dark caramel. At these depths of caramelization even if you decant the starter you will still be adding strong flavors to your beers. and Second, all living organisms are killed at 170 (hence the temp for pasteurization.) This makes me curious what people were talking about when they were saying that stored wort needed to be pressure cooked.

PS I like your cheap and easy stirplate. I was looking at that the other night and am considering that as my next project.

dontman said:

Just to be clear, my question was actually very specific to the "AG" version of starters. I make starters with DME all of the time and they are easy to throw together an hour before pitching the yeast.

Click to expand...

How do you make a starter a hour before pitching the yeast???

Proofing, is not making a starter..

Im going to start making a starter everytime.

Ridemywideglide said:

How do you make a starter a hour before pitching the yeast???

Proofing, is not making a starter..

Click to expand...

Pitching the yeast into the starter, my friend, into the starter.

dontman said:

and Second, all living organisms are killed at 170 (hence the temp for pasteurization.) This makes me curious what people were talking about when they were saying that stored wort needed to be pressure cooked.

Click to expand...

Not all living organisms are killed off at 170. Botulism will live well above boiling temperatures. When you can food items there are two methods: water bath and pressure canning. High acid foods can be canned using the water bath method which is essentially boiling. Low acid foods need to be pressure canned. I do not know the exact PH that determines high or low acids. I do know that tomatoes have a PH slightly lower than wort and all canning recipes call for the use of additional acids such as citric acid when using the water bath method. Other factors such as alcohol can improve the storage abillity of canned or bottle food items. Is the pasturization temperature the same for milk as it is for beer? Keep in kind that most pasturized items must be kept refrigerated where canned food items can be kept at room temperature. So it would seem to me that storing wort for a starter would not be a good idea unless you were to keep it refrigerated and use it rather quickly. Just my .02

dontman said:

Pitching the yeast into the starter, my friend, into the starter.

Click to expand...

Gotcha..

Botulism is an excellent example of organisms living above 212*F. Someone here told me that they use Botulism as a grading system for cleaners, sterilizers, etc.

Thanks for the kudos on the stirplate BTW!

Also- I've used a smack pack without making a starter and it takes off within 6-12 hours depending on the OG, etc.