worried about fermentation!

So I just cooked up my first batch yesterday. When I came home from the brew store, I mistakenly put the hops in the fridge and the yeast in the freezer. It remained like this for about an hour or two. When I realized this I was not home so I called a friend and had them switch it around. I was somewhat worried about the yeast but I don't think it ever froze. So I pitched it into my batch based on what others had said about it on forums. Its been about 20 hours since I brewed and I don't see any signs of fermentation or yeast activity. Any suggestions on what to do? Should I pitch more yeast at a certain point? Thanks.

RDWHAHB, on my first batch it took over 48 hours for the fermentation to start. Even more so if you did not do a starter. So, dont worry, and give it some time...the waiting is the worst part. I am sure it will be fine.



Edit: What did you make?

There are others here who can probably speak more intelligently on this than I but for what it's worth....

20 hours is still early in the process so I wouldn't be concerned yet. Before I used starters I routinely had to wait 24+ hours to see signs of activity. Now that I've switched to making starters I see activity within 8 hours at a minimum.

Are you fermenting in a bucket or carboy? I'm wondering only because the carboy would allow you to see what's going on better. Whether any kreusen has formed or if there's bubbles on the surface of the wort, etc.

At what temp did you pitch the yeast? Were the yeast and the wort near the same temp?

I'm fermenting in a carboy and haven't really observed anything. But i guess it is too early to worry about it. I pitched the yeast at around 75 deg. The wort and the yeast were both around room temp. Oh and to the first post, its a pale ale.

Master:

Hang tight!!! The waiting is the worst. The yeast will work and it will ferment. These guys are the best and they are right!! Relax, have a cold one and it will get to fermenting. I'm very new and it took about 48 hrs to kick in. I racked my first batch to secondary yesterday and it smelled and looked fantastic!!

Cheers and welcome to the madness!!!

John

Primary: soon to be octane IPA
Secondary: Autumn Amber Ale

happy to say my brew is fermenting like crazy.. thnks for the supposrt guys.

Glad to hear it! Congrats. Waiting is always the hardest part.

Yeah my first brew took 48 hours before it started fermenting noticably. The second brew took off in under 2 hours! RDWHAHB & YMMV!

SixFoFalcon said:

The second brew took off in under 2 hours!

Click to expand...

How did this happen? Did you use a starter the second time and not the first?

yeqmaster said:

How did this happen? Did you use a starter the second time and not the first?

Click to expand...

Nope, just different beers with different circumstances. For sure, making a starter always helps, but little things can make a difference too... a few degrees of temperature, aeration technique, variation of recipes, etc. I think in my case the yeast strain was probably the main difference. Different recipes call for different yeasts and those yeasts can behave in very different ways.

I have been brewing for almost a year (I know not as long as alot of you, but long enough to know what is going on), and I still worry after about 18 hours if anything is going to happen or not. Only had one batch where the yeast didn't do anything after about 3 days. Even that wasn't a huge deal though, I just repitched and it was fine. That was just a long way to say you shouldn't worry, worst case scenario you repitch.

ever since i began making starters, i have always had it going in < 12 hours

I've done 6 batches so far...still a FNG... but here I am. I make custom cabinets and furniture, I bake bread, I do the big cooking for dinners with friends and family. Every thing I make I get to see/taste/eat the end as soon as I am done with the process except...BEER. I have to wait 6 WEEKS at a MINIMUM!!! I wish I had learned this kind of patience before I had to raise kids from diapers to diplomas. 4 hours of work to brew the beer and then WAIT! Rack to the secondary and then WAIT AGAIN!! Spend 4 more hours bottling and then...WAIT THREE MORE WEEKS!!!! Of course now that I am a few batches into the process I now have some awesome beer to help me pass the time (and inspire this ramble), and I seem to have acquired some new friends in the process. If there is a lesson in this post, it might be "waiting until the time is right is the sign of a true shao-lin, grasshopper", or don't post after the fourth baltic porter!