No fermentation, please advise

Brewed a Red Ale 53 hours ago, along with a batch of Apfelwein. The Apfelwein airlock is bubbling away, the Ale shows no activity. I waited as long as possible, but just lifted the edge of the pails lid and there is no krausen, so signs of fermentation. A slight sulfur smell. My digital thermometer died, so I used a manual one, and had mid 80 degree reading, added a bit of cool water, aerated and pitched yeast. My guess is the temp was higher than I thought, and it killed the yeast, a packet of Nottingham, and the dead yeast accounts for the sulfur smell.

Any ideas if this is the case or something else?

Should I buy another packet and repitch, give it plenty of time to clean off any off odors and flavors, or after over 2 days sitting at 68 degrees is this a lost cause?

First question - can you explain how it got so hot?

Check the lot number. It sounds like the recalled yeast acted.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/nottingham-yeast-recall-135065/

Did you take a starting gravity> if you did chk for a difference.

mojotele said:

First question - can you explain how it got so hot?

Click to expand...

do you mean how it may have been hotter than the mid 80's measurement I took? If so, a very old and hard to read thermometer is the answer. its an old meat thermometer, and when the needle stopped mid 80's, I added water to fill to 5 gal and pitched.

Daddymem said:

Check the lot number. It sounds like the recalled yeast acted.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/nottingham-yeast-recall-135065/

Click to expand...

Thank you for this info, unfortunately my wife has already taken out the garbage so i will call the homebrew shop and check.

Either way, 72 hours is the point to start worrying.

Never mind, I misread your original post. I thought you were saying it was mid 80s when you checked on it later. Sorry about that!

Check the gravity now versus the gravity when you pitched the yeast. Without doing that, it is a bit premature to say that fermentation hasn't started or ended.

Strange enough, after 48 hours the airlock was banging away, the sulphur smell has subsided and when i sniff thru the airlock, i smell something great. My followup question is will the yeast take care of the rest of the "off odor" and any off flavor? I know over time it does some amazing things. I was planning on letting this sit on the yeast cake for 3 weeks before bottling, should I add some time to let it work itself out? If so, another week or 2 will do, right?

Unfortunately, this was a thrown together batch, using a $1.50 pkt of yeast with ingredients from past brews, tryin to make a cheap batch and get rid of some old ingredients, so I did not take a hydrometer reading. I guess it was a combo of laziness, over-confidence, and alot of homebrew!

Yeap, the yeast will clean up after itself wonderfully! I just bottled a Scottish Ale that I let sit for 4 weeks. It was wonderfully clear and tasted great even before bottle conditioning.

I recommend letting it sit for 4 weeks. Bring the temperature up to 70 or so after the first week to week and a half of active fermentation. Then let it sit at 70 for another 3 or 2.5 weeks. The beer will be nice and clear and taste great!

I'm glad your fermentation started up. Sometimes the yeast just take awhile to get out of bed

Thanks! Cant wait to try this badboy...patience is a virtue I do not have, but I can wait an extra week!