Time to post -- worried about my first batch.

I've really enjoyed lurking around the forum for the past week or so, and I have read the sticky on waiting for fermentation to start but . . .

The backstory:
I've been looking to begin homebrewing for some time now, doing some research and reading up and for my B-day this year my wife came through big with a deluxe brew kit from the LHBS and a Brewer's Best German Oktoberfest kit. So this Sunday I gathered my equipment, gave it a good wash and rinse, sanitized (I'll get to that later) and dove right in. . .

Everything seemed to go fine. The boil was pretty much perfect as far as I could tell, the house (and much of the street) filled up with the best smell and I was pumped!

But 72+ hours later I'm still waiting for some sign that my beer is going to do much of anything in the fermenter.

Here are my only thoughts of what 'could' have gone wrong. . .

* Sanitizer problems - was the included "no-rinse sanitizer" included with the equipmwnt kit actually just a cleaner? The included book seems to indicate it was sanitizer (oxygen-based) but there seems to be some confusion about this online.

*Poor Aeration of Wort after cooling - the instructions made no mention of this -- i only learned this was important on here after the fact.

*bad OG ?? - my first hydrometer reading was not exact science I must admit - it looked close to the upper limit of 1.056 but could have been a bit higher -- maybe closer to 1.058 - 1.060 - i took the reading at bang on 60degrees F -- i pitched the yeast at this temp too.

Otherwise temps have been pretty stable -- between 55-57 degrees taken numerous times for Primary. Directions state 53-59

What is the current gravity?

Have you taken a CURRENT gravity reading?????

Shooter said:

What is the current gravity?

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Revvy said:

Have you taken a CURRENT gravity reading?????

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Jinx, you owe me a coke.....

My first beer I was getting the yeast ready (dry yeast) and put it in too hot of water so I killed all the yeast off before I pitched it, so I don't know if that is a possibility for you, but my yeast was in almost boiling water that is why they killed off. but I got new yeast re-pitched and I'm drinking it now

Revvy said:

Jinx, you owe me a coke.....

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Bah, and all I have is this fridge full of Pepsi!!!

Did you use dry yeast or a liquid yeast? The reason I ask is that with liquid yeast, there aren't enough yeast cells in there to really get fermentation going so it may take a LONG time before the yeast reproduce enough to ferment a lager. Like, 72-80 hours or more. You need 2 or preferable three packages of liquid yeast to ferment in the 50s. If you only used one, it will still go eventually but it will take a long while.

That was quick --

I'll go and check on the gravity as soon as I get my kid in bed.

I used the dry yeast sachet included with the kit. It said sprinkle on top and stir well with a sanitized spoon, so I did.

Yoop said:

Did you use dry yeast or a liquid yeast? The reason I ask is that with liquid yeast, there aren't enough yeast cells in there to really get fermentation going so it may take a LONG time before the yeast reproduce enough to ferment a lager. Like, 72-80 hours or more. You need 2 or preferable three packages of liquid yeast to ferment in the 50s. If you only used one, it will still go eventually but it will take a long while.

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Yeah, great point, I missed the fact that this appears to be a lager.

altenmuenster said:

That was quick --

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Hey, what can we say? We have no lives. It's quite sad actually...!

You could also try rehydrating the yeast in about 90 degree water for around 10 minutes before you pitch.

It is a lager - gave me an excuse to spring for a Ranco temp controller to use our chest freezer to lager.

Now, I just need to re-locate my sister's wedding cake topper I've been keeping in there for her. . .

altenmuenster said:

That was quick --

I'll go and check on the gravity as soon as I get my kid in bed.

I used the dry yeast sachet included with the kit. It said sprinkle on top and stir well with a sanitized spoon, so I did.

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Ok, the dry yeast should do the trick. Just be patient and wait it out! Beer is much slower at lager temperatures, but as long as you're in the correct temperature for the yeast, you'll be fine!

What is the name of the yeast strain you used?

Checked the Gravity now -- 1.055 at a temp of around 57degrees. This seems to be reasonable given the instructions 1.052-1.056

The beer (sorry, wort) itself smelled fine not much going on.

I know I know RDWHAHB -- unfortunately as I said this is my first batch -- RDWHASA (Sam Adams) does not have the same ring, but I'll do it (I need the damned bottles)

Oh - and I have no idea what the yeast strain was . . . i tossed the packet -- next time I'll include that in my notes.

Thanks for all the help!

If you can you could raise the temp a few degrees and that should get things going. Is your batch an ale or lager.

slomo said:

If you can you could raise the temp a few degrees and that should get things going. Is your batch an ale or lager.

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+1 on this. After 48 hrs I get really nervous if I don't see krausen or airlock activity.

Raise the temp to 60. If you don't see some sort of activity (especially if you don't see that gravity dropping) rip open a packet of dry yeast (S-23 is a decent cheap lager yeast) and dump it in there.

I'm also a bit concerned with your sanitizer. When you say "oxygen-based", I really think it is a cleaner and will do nothing to kill bacteria. The sanitizer I use (Starsan) is an acid. In fact, if you run to get a bit more yeast, get some concentrated starsan too.

Had this problem with my first brew (although it was an ale), the CO2 producing part of fermentation was done overnight. Turns out it had happened when I was either sleeping or at work(the bubbling bit)!

I've only done one lager so far. So, I'm not the expert, but when I pitched a healthy starter and oxygenated the wort, it didn't take 72+ hours to start. However, you're working with a dry yeast. I've used dry yeast before, but never a dry lager yeast. According to the Mr. Malty calculator a 1.055 lager batch needs two 11.5 gram packets of dry yeast. So, that might be why it's taking a while to get going.

After about 12 hours at 60° F I started to see some bubbles coming up.

I'm planning on leaving it at this temp overnight to let things get going nicely.

Do you recommend taking it back down to the recommended lagering temps after it gets started?

Oktoberfest is my favorite kit I've done so far. Hopefully you will enjoy it too

fermented mine as an ale, and don't have the eq to lager but if I'm not mistaken, I think it said to do your primary fermentation at 65-70 then when you secondary, lower the temp couple degrees a day until you get to the specific temp

I'm not an expert but it makes sense .it would give the yeast a chance to start

The bubbles might have been due to the expansion of the fluids due to the temperature increase.

I would take a Hydro reading. If it has dropped, the lower your temp back down. Make sure you have some nice, clean, santized liquid in the airlock when you lower the temps because you could get some suckback due to the fluids condensing.

I'm currently doing the BB Oktoberfest Kit and have it in second fermentation. When I had it in the first, I had it at 64 degrees and it kicked off with in 12 hours. All I did was pour the packet in the wort. I brewed mine as an ale though. I don't have lagering capabilities yet. I hope to bottle this weekend. I kept it in the primary for 15 days and it has been in secondary for a week. It gets a fruity smell steam brewing.

If I were you, I would bump it up to 63-65 for 7-14 days and then start lagering.

Sounds good -- it was still bubbling up the next morning, though slowly -- I'm gonna leave it at it's current temp (around 64 right now) over the weekend and then I'll take a hydrometer reading to see how things are progressing.

Thanks for all the help!