Pitched two weeks ago and nothing..advice?

Hi there,

I made a summer wheat ale two weeks ago just before taking a trip. I pitched SafAle US05 directly out of the package. I have been using the safAle for a long time with NO issues, always "pitch and forget" method.

This time something went wrong. The last time I brewed this recipe I used the same yeast and wound up having to switch to a blow off hose because the fermentation was too active for the airlock. This time I started with one to avoid problems.

My concern is the following.. My trusty brewmate never came by to check on the beer, soo.. the water was never been changed from the bucket that the hose feeds into, and the nobody noticed that there was no fermentation taking place. Since this has been going on for two weeks, what are my options? Discard the batch? Make a yeast starter and start over?

Thanks in advance for the help!
Nate

How do you know there has not been any fermentation. On the contrary, if your yeast had failed you would mostly likely have an active infection now. It think it is more likely that your beer is done and ready to be packaged.

Have you checked the gravity of the beer?

If there truely was no fermentation, then pitch another SafAle.

What's the gravity? Modern yeasts RARELY don't work for brewers, despite all the threads about it. What REALLY happens is that new brewers look at their airlock or other things that really aren't accurate at telling whether fermentation occurred or not.

But they never seem to take a gravity reading before they declare that fermentation didn't occur. So what's your hydrometer have to say? I bet it is finished and everything is fine.

I would be willing to bet that fermenation is done. US-05 works fast so get out your hydrometer and check. My guess it is done.

Brazbrew said:

I made a summer wheat ale two weeks ago just before taking a trip. I pitched SafAle US05 directly out of the package.

My concern is the following.. My trusty brewmate never came by to check on the beer, soo.. the water was never been changed from the bucket that the hose feeds into, and the nobody noticed that there was no fermentation taking place. Since this has been going on for two weeks, what are my options? Discard the batch? Make a yeast starter and start over?

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So, you're saying that nobody was around to verify any activity (or lack thereof), and you haven't checked it, but you know that nothing happened?

How did you come to this conclusion?

Open the bucket...Does it look dirty on the sides (like the crud rose up)? if so...your beer is done...If not, take a gravity reading before you do anything else...If it's still at OG..then indeed you pitched dead yeast..while uncommon it is possible....repitch and relax...if your bucket was sealed, and sanitized your fine...just repitch...

right... my concern is that the last time I brewed this beer, the fermentation was rampant enough to blow the rubber stopper out of my carboy in the first 24 hours. The water in the bucket and the hose are completely clean.. thats what makes me nervous. Sanitizing now, will be taking a gravity reading in minutes..

Brazbrew said:

right... my concern is that the last time I brewed this beer, the fermentation was rampant enough to blow the rubber stopper out of my carboy in the first 24 hours. The water in the bucket and the hose are completely clean.. thats what makes me nervous. Sanitizing now, will be taking a gravity reading in minutes..

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There is nothing "typical" in brewing...No two fermentations are ever exactly the same. Even with the same recipe/yeast, etc. Too many variables at play in any given day.

When we are dealing with living creatures, there is a wild card factor in play..Just like with other animals, including humans...No two behave the same.

You can split a batch in half put them in 2 identical carboys, and pitch equal amounts of yeast from the same starter...and have them act completely differently...for some reason on a subatomic level...think about it...yeasties are small...1 degree difference in temp to us, could be a 50 degree difference to them...one fermenter can be a couple degrees warmer because it's closer to a vent all the way across the room and the yeasties take off...

Someone, Grinder I think posted a pic once of 2 carboys touching each other, and one one of the carboys the krausen had formed only on the side that touched the other carboy...probably reacting to the heat of the first fermentation....but it was like symbiotic or something...


Yeasts are like teenagers, swmbos, and humans in general, they have their own individual way of doing things. So it's never a good idea to compare one fermentation to another.

Brazbrew said:

right... my concern is that the last time I brewed this beer, the fermentation was rampant enough to blow the rubber stopper out of my carboy in the first 24 hours. The water in the bucket and the hose are completely clean.. thats what makes me nervous. Sanitizing now, will be taking a gravity reading in minutes..

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Hopefully, you had a nice fermentation in the 60s and not too hot and that's why it didn't blow off. Blow-offs don't signal a "good" fermentation- it's that there isn't enough headspace, or the fermentation got too warm.

A nice slow and steady fermentation in the low 60s will make a better tasting beer than an explosive fermentation in the high 70s, so often you don't want to see a blow off!

uhhhh sorry guys.. I found that the lid on my fermenting bucket was not 100% tight. That along with the additional head space probably made for a calmer fermenting process. 1.014.. I guess I'm good (as long as i haven't gotten any contamination from the bucket not being 100% sealed... Thanks for the responses, sorry for not checking the gravity first..embarassed

Brazbrew said:

right... my concern is that the last time I brewed this beer, the fermentation was rampant enough to blow the rubber stopper out of my carboy in the first 24 hours. The water in the bucket and the hose are completely clean.. thats what makes me nervous. Sanitizing now, will be taking a gravity reading in minutes..

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Patiently waiting.....

Brazbrew said:

uhhhh sorry guys.. I found that the lid on my fermenting bucket was not 100% tight. That along with the additional head space probably made for a calmer fermenting process. 1.014.. I guess I'm good (as long as i haven't gotten any contamination from the bucket not being 100% sealed... Thanks for the responses, sorry for not checking the gravity first..embarassed

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That's why we remind folks that an airlock is not a fermentation gauge, it's only a VENT.

Glad it worked out for you. It usually does.

Brazbrew said:

uhhhh sorry guys.. I found that the lid on my fermenting bucket was not 100% tight. That along with the additional head space probably made for a calmer fermenting process. 1.014.. I guess I'm good (as long as i haven't gotten any contamination from the bucket not being 100% sealed... Thanks for the responses, sorry for not checking the gravity first..embarassed

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Wonderful!

uhh.... ok so 1.014 I was definitely worried about nothing. sorry for bothering you guys with this before taking checking the gravity. As you said revvy, these two batches fermented totally differently!
Thanks guys, for the quick advice.
Nate

Brazbrew said:

uhh.... ok so 1.014 I was definitely worried about nothing. sorry for bothering you guys with this before taking checking the gravity. As you said revvy, these two batches fermented totally differently!
Thanks guys, for the quick advice.
Nate

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Glad it worked out so well. Let us know how it finishes up after you bottle it and sample!

And no, a loose lid on the bucket will not be an issue. The baddies that sour our beer do not crawl, they drift and settle. Only way possible for anything to get in under the lid is for some sort of suck back (like lifting the bucket and the walls flexing) but even then, it's a slim chance unless you are fermenting in a grain silo.

GilaMinumBeer said:

And no, a loose lid on the bucket will not be an issue. The baddies that sour our beer do not crawl, they drift and settle. Only way possible for anything to get in under the lid is for some sort of suck back (like lifting the bucket and the walls flexing) but even then, it's a slim chance unless you are fermenting in a grain silo.

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Yes. In fact there are quite a few bucket type fermenters that don't have airlocks, and you're just supposed to leave the bucket lid loose on top. Some folks don't even use airlocks, or they don't snap the lid down, or they use plastic wrap instead of a lid, or use a piece of plexiglass. An airlock is just a vent to release the co2 coming out. It doesn't make a fermenter air tight. There's plenty of co2 coming out, even through the crak to have protected your beer.

Revvy said:

Some folks don't even use airlocks, or they don't snap the lid down, ...

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Me x2. The airlock hole in my lid gets used for a thermowell.

My blowoff system, is a loose lid and a buss bin under the bucket.

GilaMinumBeer said:

Me x2. The airlock hole in my lid gets used for a thermowell.

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I've actually been doing the same thing.

Yeah no worries about contamination. Back (before I was born) when my dad brewed beer, they'd just pitch the yeast and pull some pantyhose over the top of the bucket. He said they made good beer, lol

The beer turned out great! Sorry I forgot to post back. The recipe is a definite keeper . Started out as a Bell's Oberon clone, but I can't get Bells in Brazil so I can't harvest yeast from the bottle. It evolved into a hoppy American Summer Wheat Ale that gives me great pleasure and a bit of nostalgia every time I drink it, Sounds weird to you guys, but it's summer south of the equator!
Here's the recipe in case anyone is interested:

20 Liter batch:
4lb 11 oz Belgian Wheat - 2.0 SRM
5lb Belgian 2 row Pale Malt 4.1 SRM
6 oz Carahell 15.2 SRM
12 oz Caramunich 11.2 SRM

Hop schedule
Hallertau Organic 1 oz 60 mins
Saaz .50 oz 60 min
Saaz .50 oz 30 min
Saaz 1 oz 15 min
Saaz .35 oz 5 min
Cascade .35 2 minutes

Dry Hop Cascade in Secondary 7 days .65 oz
Or Dry Hop Cascade 1 ounce and don't add the .35 oz at 2 minutes

SafAle US05 pitch @ 25 Celcius
Ferment 7 days in primary @ 21 Celcius
14 days secondary @ 21 Celcius (Dry hop last 7 days)
Prime with table sugar 2.5 volumes Co2