No fermentation?!?

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walcotteric

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Okay, it's been over a week and as far as I can tell my brew is not fermenting at all. I'm not entirely certain what went wrong, but I have a few ideas. My biggest question right now is what do I do with it? Is it garbage? Or is it salvageable?

I didn't invest too much time or money into this brew, so I'm not too worried about it, I just consider it a learning experience for a beginner brewer.
 
Okay, it's been over a week and as far as I can tell my brew is not fermenting at all. I'm not entirely certain what went wrong, but I have a few ideas. My biggest question right now is what do I do with it? Is it garbage? Or is it salvageable?

I didn't invest too much time or money into this brew, so I'm not too worried about it, I just consider it a learning experience for a beginner brewer.

Did you check your gravity?
 
How do you know it hasn't fermented? Have you taken a hydrometer reading? That's the ONLY WAY TO KNOW if you have fermentation or not. Nothing else is an accurate indicator of fermentation...
 
don't throw it out! check the specific gravity. If it hasn't fermented, you can always pitch more yeast.
 
Check for odd smells though, leaving wort unfermented can lead to funky bacterial infections that will ruin your beer
 
Check for odd smells though, leaving wort unfermented can lead to funky bacterial infections that will ruin your beer

But more than likely, the op, like many new brewers, thinks his beer isn't fermenting because he did not see an airlock bubble, and he equates airlocks with being fermentation gauges, rather than what they are, simply vents. When he takes his gravity reading, he's going to find just like 99.99999% of all brewers, that, modern yeast just doesn't NOT work these days, like 30-40 year old books would lead folks to think, and that fermentation did indeed happen.
 
But more than likely, the op, like many new brewers, thinks his beer isn't fermenting because he did see an airlock bubble, and he equates airlocks with being fermentation gauges, rather than what they are, simply vents. When he takes his gravity reading, he's going to find just like 99.99999% of all brewers, that, modern yeast just doesn't NOT work these days, like 30-40 year old books would lead folks to think, and that fermentation did indeed happen.

I had a beer not ferment for a week once, it was genuinely my fault of course but it can happen... It's the only batch I have ever had that happen to, but its certainly not impossible... And I ended up having to toss due to an infection that made it sour and made me nearly vomit when I tasted it... BAD MISTAKE
 
Thanks for all the responses, I don't actually have my hydrometer accessible right now. I'm getting it back later and will do a measure and let you know what it says.

Thanks for the help, i'll keep you posted.
 
Thanks for all the responses, I don't actually have my hydrometer accessible right now. I'm getting it back later and will do a measure and let you know what it says.

Thanks for the help, i'll keep you posted.

There could be a variety of things that happened.

Most likely if using a bucket is that your lid wasnt/doesnt seal fully, so the gas took the path of least resistance out that instead of the airlock.
 
There could be a variety of things that happened.

Most likely if using a bucket is that your lid wasnt/doesnt seal fully, so the gas took the path of least resistance out that instead of the airlock.

In which case your beer is just fine.

Your homework, Get yourself a hydrometer take a reading and report back.
 
Instructions said to let it ferment until gravity remains constant below 1.014...should I re-pitch, or is it okay?
 
I didn't take a reading when I started because I didn't have a hydrometer (rookie mistake).
Based on the extract I used, it should've been about 1.055
 
Yes, it's an IPA. Do you think I should reseal with more yeast, or just reseal it as is?
 
Gravity is at 1.038

That means nothing unless we know the OG too.

Not necessarily.....we can extrapolate what the OG of the batch was, simply by knowing the recipe...there's not too many beer recipes with an OG of 1.038, so it's a good bet that he has fermentation. Even if he doesn't give us a recipe so we can figure out a rough calculation, if he takes another gravity reading in 2 days, and it is LESS than 1.038, then we know he has fermentation.

Walcotteric, post your recipe...
 
This is a sure sign of fermentation (ignore my spelling) :)
thumb1_blowoff-57865.jpg
 
Walcotteric, post your recipe...

It's a Munton's Gold IPA 5 gallon extract kit. Unfortunately it's super unhelpful on what's in it. It's supposed to result in an ABV approx. 4.5%.

It does have this info, which says "for more experienced brewers"

EBC 22-28
EBU 17-23
Solids (by refractometer) 80%-82%
Acidity 1% max
pH 5.5 max
Free Amino Nitrogen 0.15% max


Not sure if that is helpful or not
 
There was some Krausen remains, but not a ton. Where I put in the hydrometer was clear though.

Just to be clear, since I'm a noob, if I pitch more yeast do I need to shake it to aerate again, or just put it in an seal it?
 
There was some Krausen remains, but not a ton. Where I put in the hydrometer was clear though.

Just to be clear, since I'm a noob, if I pitch more yeast do I need to shake it to aerate again, or just put it in an seal it?

Amount of krausen, just like airlock bubbling is one of those things that really isn't an accurate gauge of fermentation, even if you split a batch in half of the same wort, and put the same yeast strain in the two fermenters you could get two different amounts of krausen.

I can't stress this enough, visual signs like airlocks or krausen development are NOT accurate gauges of things. They can be affected just as much by environmental factors and actual fermentation... That's why the only gauge of fermentation is a change in gravity...nothing else is reliable.

No, you should not shake at this point, you DO have beer in there. Oxygen is the enemy of fermented beer.

Just put the yeast in, and WALK AWAY for another 2 weeks. Don't even look at your fermenter.

I'm sure you don't really need to do anything. I've been brewer for a ton of years, and NEVER had yeast not do it's thing. I think too many times new brewers think they don't have fermentation, and hover over theri fermenters worrying and micro managing thinks that don't need to be worried about.

I wouldn't add yeast, but at the same time I just pitch my yeast and come back to bottle or keg in a month, and my beers have all turned out fine.

But I know it makes you feel better, and it won't hurt anything.
 
Thanks for the help! I wish I could fast-forward the "experience" factor and have a bit more patience with the whole process. I'll update in a few weeks with how it turns out.
 
Threads like this are great! I'm a complete noob at this, having only watched the initial portion of the process at a buddy's house a while back. Once the wort went into the fermenter, I was flying blind! I had little air-lock activity and only a little krausen, so hearing that I should still be ok puts me at ease and I've made myself promise to not open the damn lid until Sunday (day 8)!
 
Revvy said:
Not necessarily.....we can extrapolate what the OG of the batch was, simply by knowing the recipe...there's not too many beer recipes with an OG of 1.038, so it's a good bet that he has fermentation. Even if he doesn't give us a recipe so we can figure out a rough calculation, if he takes another gravity reading in 2 days, and it is LESS than 1.038, then we know he has fermentation.

Walcotteric, post your recipe...

Right. I'm aware. I meant either an actual og or a predicted one. Point being, 1.038 means nothing by itself.
 
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