New member, first batch

Hey all,

Been drinking beer since I was 4 years old. Always wanted to brew it. 23 year later, two days ago--that dream has happened.

Love the website. It's been immensely useful. Now, the problem:

I brewed my first batch of beer, a double IPA. 36 hours later, there's still no fermentation. Here's a list of what I could have done wrong in my first try

a.) I pitched the dry yeast at about 75 degrees. I later realized this was a bit high.

b.) I stirred the yeast as instructed, but now read I may have damaged them.

c.) I'm fermenting the beer around 63 degrees, which may be a bit low? I raised the temperature to 66 and still nothing.

d.) I didn't aerate the wert. My instructions said nothing about it. I read on here that higher gravity ales should be aerated. My OG was 1.078. I fear it may be too late to start shaking my primary fermenter.

Any thoughts?

I don't think any of those things would kill your yeast or prevent fermentation. High temps (75F) during the first few days of fermentation may cause off flavors, but would definitely ferment. Stirring won't kill the yeast. 63-66F is not a bad temp range for California Ale yeast (not sure what strain you used). Lack of aeration may strain the yeast, cause off flavors, and cause incomplete fermentation, but it will not prevent the wort from fermenting at all.

Do you think it's not fermenting because there's no airlock activity or have you taken a hydrometer reading? The first thing I'd do is make sure your lid (assuming you're using a bucket) is on tight. CO2 could be escaping there instead of through your airlock. If you still don't see any activity, then take a gravity reading. If the gravity hasn't dropped, pitch some new yeast. The yeast may have been dead on arrival.

Good luck.

When I get home from work tonight it will have been over 48 hours. If there's still nothing doing I'm sterlizing my hydrometer.

And the lid is on tight, for sure. If CO2 is being emitted, it's got to go through the airlock as far as I can tell....

Give it 72 hours before you crack it open.

Another way to see whats going on in there is to turn off the lights in the room and shine a flashlight directly on top of the bucket. You'll be able to see if you have kreusen or not. If you do, then you've got fermentation no matter what your air lock may be telling you. I found this out on my first batch as well. I was convinced that nothing was happening when in fact everything was a-ok.

75 is fine for pitching, but you'll want to get it down into the low 60's by the time fermentation really takes off. Stirring won't hurt the yeast, and your room temperature sounds fine. I'm assuming this was a packet of rehydrated dry yeast? If so, then aeration is unnecessary, so that's not a factor either.

It's possible that your yeast was simply too old, or was exposed to excessive heat at some point in the supply chain on its way to you.

If you don't see any activity at all after 72 hours, then I'd take a gravity reading. If it's still the same as your O.G., then rehydrate and pitch another packet of the same yeast.

Does sound like the yeast may be in question. Pick up some fresh yeast from your LHBS and pitch it. Wont hurt any. I would only open the lid once, check the gravity if you want but if there are no visible signs of any krausen I'd just pitch a pack of S-05 or something.

63 is a good ambient temp. 66 may get a little hot. I shoot for a nice clean finish (read: lower ferment temps) with my IPAs. Hope this helps.

I'd wait until at least 72 hours have passed. I've had a few beers lag up to that long before they start really going. If you have no change in gravity after 72 hours, pitch some new yeast pronto.

With the cost of dry yeast being near 0, I always keep a few packets on hand of US-05 and US-04 on hand.

Check the gravity, if unchanged, aerate, then repitch.

One thing I have noticed with my beer is that sometimes the airlock will not bubble. I use the three piece one and the inner piece always floats to the top. If I push on the lid it will bubble. I know it is fermenting then.
The true test is taking a gravity reading. It could just be so slow that you never see it bubble. Just let it sit for a week and take a reading.
Good luck.

Update:

So I raised the temperature to 68 and finally on hour 48 I finally noticed bubbling. I lowered the temp back to 63/64 and now it's not doing anything again. I'm going to go ahead and assume that the fermenting is doing its thing...and I'm just not seeing it. I'm going to rack it in the secondary in 48 hours, so I'll check the gravity then.

...still love the whole process, but first time isn't going quite as textbook as I would have hoped.

i wouldnt rack it to secondary so quick. Give it a couple of weeks, or dont even seconday it. I rarely seconday my beers, and my double ipa is about to be kegged from the primary tonight.

I agree with MotorcycleMatt: don't secondary yet, if at all. You can still take a gravity reading, though. Just make sure to sanitize whatever you use to collect your wort sample. Dump or drink you sample; don't put it back into the fermenter just to make sure you don't introduce any contamination.

Why is a secondary a bad idea? Aren't I going to want to separate it out and clean up the beer?

And my hydrometer is a big bobby one...so would it be horrible to test the gravity directly in the primary? Even if sterilized--is contamination that likely?

You want to leave the beer on the yeast until your active fermentation is done. Since it doesn't seem like yours is done, definitely leave it for now. Many people don't use a secondary at all. This is a relatively recent school of thought that says there is very little if any benefit to the secondary, but there is definitely increased risk of contamination and oxidation when transferring to the secondary.

To take a hydrometer reading, don't put the hydrometer into your bucket. Instead, you should take a sample using a *sanitized* wine thief or a turkey baster and put the sample into a hydrometer tube (the tube that the hydrometer came in will work just fine). As I said in my previous post, to avoid contamination don't pour this back into the bucket.

Jbird said:

If I push on the lid it will bubble. I know it is fermenting then.

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Lol.

When you push on the lid it is decreasing the volume within the bucket and the gas that was occupying that space it's expelled thru the airlock. You could have an empty bucket and you would notice the same phenomena...

A hydrometer reading is the only way to tell if you are fermenting.

Edit: Also pushing on your bucket lid is a great way to get suckback through the airlock. Don't do it. Ever.

PhelanKA7 said:

Lol.

When you push on the lid it is decreasing the volume within the bucket and the gas that was occupying that space it's expelled thru the airlock. You could have an empty bucket and you would notice the same phenomena...

A hydrometer reading is the only way to tell if you are fermenting.

Edit: Also pushing on your bucket lid is a great way to get suckback through the airlock. Don't do it. Ever.

Click to expand...

Well. You can do it if it is fermenting if you, like, me are a compulsive airlock sniffer. But yeah.

Also, I have had a brew or two never bubble with a tight lid. Or so I thought. It just fermented out so fast that I never noticed a bubble. And as Revvy/Yoda says airlock bubbles an indication of fermention is not.

Give it the 72 hours, then take a hydro sample. If the gravity has dropped lid it back up and let her finish. Then decide if you really want to secondary, few of us really do anymore unless we are making big beers or are racking for prolonged secondary additions like oak, etc.

I dry hopped my last dipa in primary and it turned out fantastic

Ok, after reading up on this for 3+ hours, I've decided I fall squarely in the "leave your damn beer alone in the primary" camp.

Off to the homebrew outlet to pick up a blow off tube and more ingredients for a second batch.

PhelanKA7 said:

Lol.

When you push on the lid it is decreasing the volume within the bucket and the gas that was occupying that space it's expelled thru the airlock. You could have an empty bucket and you would notice the same phenomena...

A hydrometer reading is the only way to tell if you are fermenting.

Edit: Also pushing on your bucket lid is a great way to get suckback through the airlock. Don't do it. Ever.

Click to expand...

Ummm roger that. I was just told that long ago.

UPDATE:

I bottled this morning. I cleaned my bottles last night. I soaked them in a tub full of oxi clean for a few hours. I thought I had rinsed out most of them when I drank them the first time, but man--that water was nasty.

The thing is--i used becks sapphire bottles because I liked the dark glass. The labels are like tin foil, so between becoming annoyed in scrubbing them off and being distracted at how dirty the water coming out of the bottles was, I FORGOT TO SCRUB THE INSIDE OF THE BOTTLES. CRAP!

I then put them in the dishwasher and ran it on high heat. Then I woke up this morning and ran it again. Then I bottled, and didn't notice any crud in the bottles. But then on the way to work I realized my gaff. So cool. First batch. Almost made it to the end without screwing up.

So...how many bottles do you think will be undrinkable? I'm going to guess 10/42.

Did you sanitize with a soak/rinse or just the dishwasher?

And when you ran the dishwasher, did you run it with or without soap?

Cleaned with oxi clean, sanitized with hot water only in dishwasher--no soap. Twice.

my concern isn't that there's bacteria alive in the bottles. Pretty sure my dishwasher took care of them. My concern is that there could be mold floaties or something gross.

Not going to be able to give you a guess on drinkability, but I would like to recommend not using the dishwasher. They harbor bacteria and the insides of the bottles do not get sanitized as well as you would really hope. Soaking the bottles in sanitizer and then air drying is really your best chance at fully sanitizing your bottles. It's a pain and takes time but you already spent how many hours brewing.......

TroyMorgan said:

Not going to be able to give you a guess on drinkability, but I would like to recommend not using the dishwasher. They harbor bacteria and the insides of the bottles do not get sanitized as well as you would really hope. Soaking the bottles in sanitizer and then air drying is really your best chance at fully sanitizing your bottles. It's a pain and takes time but you already spent how many hours brewing.......

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I respectfully disagree about the dishwasher. That is how I have sanitized my bottles since I started brewing and I've never had a problem. I do think that you need to wash them out with a bottle brush beforehand. You are right that the water doesn't necessarily get up into all the bottles enough to clean them. At this point you can only hope for the best. The oxiclean soak will have cleaned off most of the stuff, and I assume you rinsed them thoroughly even before running them through the dishwasher. You might find some surprises in a couple, but I bet most will be OK! Good luck!

I just need to cross my fingers and pray to the gods of whirlpool that I have an awesome dishwasher capable of applying some pressure to the inside of the bottles.

I guess I'll provide my last update in 2 weeks to the day.

All you're really going for in the dishwasher is exposure to steam during the "heated dry" cycle that sanitizes the heck out of bottles (I work at a brewpub for my day job and we use steam/180 degree water to sanitize everything from kegs to fermenters to transfer hoses, works great everytime) I keg now so bottling is a mercifully infrequent chore, but when I do, I prefer the dishwasher sanitize method after using my sink-mounted bottle washer.
You did rinse the oxiclean out of the bottles after your soak yes? If not, I don't think that even the best whirlpool would get all of that soap out of there

TroyMorgan said:

Soaking the bottles in sanitizer and then air drying is really your best chance at fully sanitizing your bottles.

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Why "air dry?" Just use a no-rinse sanitizer and bottle right on top of the bubbles - they're protecting you.

kombat said:

Why "air dry?" Just use a no-rinse sanitizer and bottle right on top of the bubbles - they're protecting you.

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No rinse sanitizer works.. I assumed that if a brewing kit was purchased it probably didn't come with that though. Most of them I have seen come with B Brite or something similar. Either way.