Inactive Fermentation

I brewed a couple batches last Saturday. They are both sitting in primary fermentors in my basement. Both read about 65 degrees. One is fermenting like crazy, the other is doing nothing. The one that is fermenting took off within 24 hours of putting the yeast in, which is normal for my little basement brewery. The other has done nothing. I took a reading and I get the same 1.062 as when I put the wort into the fermentor. I am planning on buying some more yeast on the way home tonight and adding it to the fermentor. I have almost always used dry yeast and this is the first one that did not take. Any ideas why this would happen? I pitched the yeast once the wort reached a temp of around 75 degrees.

Did you pitch the same yeast in both?

Are both the same types of beers?

Were both at the same temperature when you pitched?

What are the obvious differences between the two?

good luck!

The yeasts were not the same. One was Safle 05 the other was Noddingham if I remember correctly. I don't have the notes in front of me, I am at work. One of the beers is a Porter, that is the inactive one. The other is a belgium ale. I believe the Noddingham went into the belgium ale. The Safle 05 went into the porter. Both were about 75 degress when I pitched. I have just never had an issue with a yeast not taking.

Edit...oh you did take a reading...my bad.

It's still at 10.62?

Actually first I would swirl and warm the fermenter up a bit....it may just need a kick in the butt.

Then I would re-pitch with some us-05...

Once home I checked on the yeast I used. I put the Nottingham in the Porter and the US-05 in the Belgium. The recipe for the Porter called for Wyeast 1728 (Scottish Ale) but the LHBS did not have any. Do you think I should try the Nottingham again or try a different yeast? Thanks for the input.

Just a thought... you didn't have a few pints while you were brewing and accidentally put both packs of yeast into the same fermenter, did you?

Wouldn't be the first time one of us did something like that.

This was one of the rare occasions I was not drinking while I was brewing. I only had one during the entire 6 hour session. I know that should be illegal. I know I put yeast in both as one is fermenting and the one that is not fermenting has the yeast floating on top of the wort. I have shaken/stirred the carboy a couple of times this week and nothing seems to work. Maybe just a bad packet of yeast?

Okay, I pitched another batch of yeast on Saturday morning and as of this morning I have nothing happening. My reading was the same as it was when I was done boiling. What do I do now? Is it time to just dump the batch? If so, what would cause this to happen. Why would a batch not ferment when there are sugars to be consumed? Is it possible all the sugars are of the non ferment able type?

I'm in the same boat. I can't figure out what's going on. *Sigh*

well if you got the same yeast from the same store then it still could be bad yeast...Did you check the expiration date? There is really no way that the fermenter is entirely full of unfermentable sugars...

Maybe as the guy/gal at the LHBS if other people have come in with this similar issue when using nottingham yeast they bought from them. It is possible that something happened to that box of yeast.

I did not get the yeast from the same place. But I think I killed my first yeast. Then I re-pitched and still nothing. I went out and got a Squirrel Mixer to try and aerate it better. That totally did the trick. It is fermenting like crazy now.