Wyeast Irish Ale Yeast not starting

hey guys. I just brewed my first all-grain batch yesterday (a stout, and I hit my target gravity of 1.050), and I thought everything went great. I activated my smack pack and waited for it to swell, but it didn't so I just pitched it and left it for the night. I pitched the yeast about 4 PM.

Today I checked it, there was no activity in my airlock, and I could see no signs of fermentation. I had bought enough grain to make 2 5-gallon batches, so I had also purchased two packs of yeast. When my supplies arrived, I accidentally left one of the packs of yeast (the first one I pitched) in the box for a few days. I thought the lack of activity could be due to this, so I tried activating the second pack this afternoon. just now there was still no swelling, but i decided to go ahead and pitch it too. There is still no activity in the airlock (and I'm using carboys for primary; i've never had any problems with leaks, plus i have my batch split into 2 carboys to prevent any blowoff).

The manufacture date on the yeast was May 4, 2010, so it's not that old. Is there any other reason it wouldn't be working? I bought from Austin Homebrew Supply, which is supposed to be a good retailer. If i still don't have any fermentation tomorrow (and i plan to confirm this with a gravity reading) should I call AHS? and if i have to wait for them to send me MORE yeast, will my entire batch be ruined before I can get it?

Give it another day. Don't buy more yeast.

Well, 2 packs of fresh viable yeast is the right amount to pitch in a 1.050 wort, though normally that's done all at once (and it's a lot cheaper to make a starter and grow up 1 packet to the right cell count than it is to pitch 2 packets!).

It'll probably take off by tomorrow. RDWHAHB.

If it hasn't taken off after 72 hours, I'd pitch whatever relatively clean yeast I have around the house (keeping a packet of viable US-05 around for emergencies isn't a bad idea).

But it almost certainly will take off unless the yeast got totally baked.

I'll give it 72 hours I guess, but my main concern is, how long is my window for starting fermentation? I REALLY don't want to have wasted all that time, and I don't have any spare yeast lying around...if I have to wait 5 or 6 days after my brew day to get more yeast, should i reboil the wort to sterilize it again? does anyone have experience with this?

Relax. It's doubtful your beer simply will not ferment. You did pitch yeast, but you underpitched, so they will take extra time to multiply and show signs of fermentation. If by day 5 or 6 you get no change in hydrometer readings, I'll eat my sock (that I've worn for 2 days). Extra yeast at that point will only be good for your next batch, so don't bother. Relax for now. Next time, just make a starter.

hey, thanks for the input everyone...I woke up this morning to the sound of bubbling and about an inch of krausen in each carboy...

Although I think I'm just going to stick with dry yeast from now on; I've never had to wait more than 8 hours for that to start fermentation, so just for my peace of mind, at least until i get a few more batches under my belt, haha.

btw, are there any good guides on here for making a starter? i've never done it before, but if it really helps (and saves money), then I might try it on my next batch.

Mix 1.5 liters water with 150 g of DME--mix well. Heat to at least 170F, stirring. Cool to pitching temps, place in a sanitized large jar or bottle, add yeast, Cover tightly with sanitized foil and shake the crap out of it to aerate.

Put it on the counter someplace you'll walk by frequently, and shake it gently (remember, the yeast is generating CO2--watch out for fizzing!) whenever you walk by to help keep oxygen in there.

After about 12-18 hours when it's at high krausen, you can pitch the whole thing into a brew. Or you can wait 24 hours, put it in the fridge overnight (or for a couple of days), and then decant off most of the starter beer, swirl a little around to mix with the precipitated yeast, and pitch that.

(If you get a large borax flask, you can do the boil and the ferment in the same container--easy as long as you watch out for boilovers).

Hi, Guys;

Sort of the same question, most likely earning the same answer. I did a batch of Dead Guy Ale (OG 1.066, FG 1.016) on Saturday (two days ago), with a single smack-pack of Wyeast 1272 American Ale II. Until this thread I'd never heard of needing two packs of yeast, and have always had happy bubblage within 24 hours with one package. This time, going on 50 hours, no joy yet. I now recall that after I smacked the pack, I propped it up toward the back of the stove and forgot about it until I was almost done with my boil...the pack was bloated (normal) but pretty darn warm on one side...did I kill my yeasties? You'll no doubt counsel to wait another day or two.

If there are no life-signs in another few days, what do I do? Agitate/aerate? Move the fermenter to a higher temp part of the house (right now, in the coal cellar at 70º)? Buy more yeast and re-pitch? One package? Two?

Trying not to panic, but never had a batch take this long to start going...

Thanks,
Geoff

Geoff said:

Hi, Guys;

Sort of the same question, most likely earning the same answer. I did a batch of Dead Guy Ale (OG 1.066, FG 1.016) on Saturday (two days ago), with a single smack-pack of Wyeast 1272 American Ale II. Until this thread I'd never heard of needing two packs of yeast, and have always had happy bubblage within 24 hours with one package.

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Most people only use 1, they just make a starter with it to up the cell count. Any beer with a gravity over about 1.035 and 1 package is underpitching. It'll work, but it's not ideal for most styles (more strain on yeast = more esters, longer lag times, possibly more fusels). Some people intentionally pitch smaller yeast counts for hefeweizens and other styles where they want more esters, though, and lagers usually want even more cells than most ales.

http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html has a handy calculator for figuring out how big a starter you need based on the OG (or how many packs of dry yeast; for most beers it's 1, but for a big barleywine or something you might want more).

This time, going on 50 hours, no joy yet. I now recall that after I smacked the pack, I propped it up toward the back of the stove and forgot about it until I was almost done with my boil...the pack was bloated (normal) but pretty darn warm on one side...did I kill my yeasties? You'll no doubt counsel to wait another day or two.

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Do you have a local home brew store where you can pick up a packet of US-05? If so, do that and if there's no sign of fermentation by the 72 hour mark go ahead and pitch it.

Woo hoo! I'm happy to report that I've got gas! Dead Guy ain't dead after all. He just took somewhere between 58 and 70 hours to get his mojo on.

I'm quite relieved, as the only decent homebrew supply here in the Detroit area is a good hour away from me. I think I will start stocking an extra pack of yeast in case I do have a recalcitrant batch someday. Sumner, this "US-05" of which you speak, is this a good all-purpose kickstarter for the purpose?

tremorfan said:

I'll give it 72 hours I guess, but my main concern is, how long is my window for starting fermentation? I REALLY don't want to have wasted all that time, and I don't have any spare yeast lying around...if I have to wait 5 or 6 days after my brew day to get more yeast, should i reboil the wort to sterilize it again? does anyone have experience with this?

Click to expand...

You don't need to do anything as drastic...Just wait...

This IS a sticky at the top of the beginners forum for a reason, afterall.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/fermentation-can-take-24-72-hrs-show-visible-signs-43635/, and by visible signs we don't necessarily mean a bubbling airlock.

The idea of yeast "dying" is another one of those holdovers from bygone days, when yeast was in cake form, of undetermined origin and traveled in the hot cargo hold of ships for months, and sat on grocer's shelves for god knows how long. Then Charlie Papazian, and other authors wrote about yeast being "finnicky."

Which of course sews seeds of doubt in many a nervous new brewer.

But nowadays modern yeast rarely lets us down. It doesn't just "die" unless you dumped it in boiling wort and killed it.

After it's been 72 hours take a hydro-reading, then you'll know what's going on.

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....

But like 99.9% percent of the threads we get like yours every day, it will turn out fine. And if you are the .1% which I doubt, you just toss in some yeast and you'll be fine.