I recently received a bunch of home brewing tools from my father as a birthday gift. I've done batches before with him and also with a friend, but this is my first time "flying solo." I visited the brew store on Sunday and picked up the last few things I needed (bottles, blow-off tube, and ingredients). Last night, I started the process, sanitized everything in bleach water, and started brewing a batch of Irish Red Ale from a recipe provided by the store. Steeped the grain at 150 F, added extract and boiled for 45 minutes, hopped and boiled for 15 minutes more. I chilled the wort in my bathtub with cold water and ice to exactly 75 F, then transfered it to a carboy, added cold water and aerated it by rolling around on the floor for about 5 minutes. I added the pitchable yeast, slapped on a blow-off tube and stuck it in a bathroom cupboard overnight. One thing I forgot to do was let the yeast warm up first, but I figured that wouldn't be too much of a problem. Was I wrong there?
Now, here's where things go bad. This morning, when I checked on it, the stopper holding the blow-off tube had popped out of the carboy, and the yeast had all settled to the bottom of the carboy, leaving the whole thing looking pretty inactive. Worried, I took out the blow-off tube and put on the airlock. Nothing. Not a single bubble. I read a few tips about dealing with stuck or slow-start fermentation, so I tried agitating the yeast by tipping the carboy on edge and rolling it around for a few minutes. That didn't seem to do much either. I'll check on it again tonight, maybe try to agitate it some more.
Questions: Is this batch totally hosed, or can I save it? I don't really have time to go get more yeast (the closest brew supply place is significantly out of my way). Should agitating (perhaps more vigorously than I did) get the yeast going? Any idea what I might have done wrong? Did the stopper coming out expose it to too much air?
Now, here's where things go bad. This morning, when I checked on it, the stopper holding the blow-off tube had popped out of the carboy, and the yeast had all settled to the bottom of the carboy, leaving the whole thing looking pretty inactive. Worried, I took out the blow-off tube and put on the airlock. Nothing. Not a single bubble. I read a few tips about dealing with stuck or slow-start fermentation, so I tried agitating the yeast by tipping the carboy on edge and rolling it around for a few minutes. That didn't seem to do much either. I'll check on it again tonight, maybe try to agitate it some more.
Questions: Is this batch totally hosed, or can I save it? I don't really have time to go get more yeast (the closest brew supply place is significantly out of my way). Should agitating (perhaps more vigorously than I did) get the yeast going? Any idea what I might have done wrong? Did the stopper coming out expose it to too much air?