Ferm. Question

Hello gang,

Cut to the chase here. Sunday afternoon I brewed a Citra Pale Ale, came in at 1.057 (should have been 1.060). I ended up with 6.15(ish) gallons in my SS Brewtech Chronical. Lowered temp to 64 degrees and I pitched two dry yeast sachets of Mangrove Jack M44 (never used it before). No i did not re-hydrate...sometimes I do but this time I didn't. I did vigorously shake the fermenter to get oxygen into the wort during transfer and in lifting it into the ferm. chamber. I am using a blow off tube into a container of Sanitizer. Temp controlled freezer set to 62 degrees.

Late last night, I thought maybe it was too cold, so i ramped/set the temp up to 64 degrees. I would check on it this morning....hoping the small spike was just the kick it needed.

At present, it still is not showing signs of life. I am starting to get concerned that this might be working. I do not have anymore M44 and my HBS is out until later this week. I do however have some Yeast Nutrient. I also have a sachet of US04 and US05 I could use if need be; not sure how it plays with M44 though.

Any advice on which way to best handle this? Thanks in advance everyone.

Perhaps your not sealed completely. Airlock activity is but one way to determine active fermentation. Have you opened your primary? I'd wait it out a few more days and then take a gravity reading.

RDWHAHB

Normally, I don't open the primary until I take the preliminary gravity sample, but if it doesn't show signs of fermentation after two days, I'd take a peek.

You are on the cool end of fermentation temp. Like said above, give it 2 days and take a peek. If you've got foam on top, you've got fermentation.

Most likely it is fermenting, but slowly at that temp. I have not used that yeast but most yeasts I like to start out fermentation on the cool side. One thing I have learned is that yeast likes to eat and will ferment if given the chance. It has been doing it for thousands of years. I have done well over 200 brews and have never had one not ferment.

You underpitched, so the yeast is taking a while to get going. You used the right number of packets according to the manufacturer's instructions, but rehydrating would have preserved more viable yeast cells and given them a better foothold. I'd say be patient. If you don't see any signs of life at all after 48 hours, then I'd start to sweat. By 72 hours, I'd be rehydrating and pitching a couple packets of US-05.

Thanks everyone for the input. Much appreciated. I knew if i posted here someone would help out...that's just the kind of group this is.

That said, I THINK things are going to be OK, and i use that OK very sparingly. Yes I realize that Yeast, by nature, will eat and there are plenty of sugars to go around. I am now starting to hear some slight burps and pops from my blow off container. Whew! At least there is activity. I have added some pictures of the whole thing too; just because I could I guess.

Truth be told though, when i posted, I was not home. So when I got home, I opened the freezer and did wiggle, push, check the blow off hose. As I was moving it, it did pop some burps in the blow off container; so that was a good sign (I didn't have to open it). I just think this is going to be a less than stellar beer, but, at least it should be beer. It just might take longer than my usual 2 weeks.

Prosit!

One last update until it's done, then I may post a picture for you all. At present, I am now hearing pops from the overflow bottle slightly better than once per second!! I noticed it last night, and smiled accordingly. I do have concern though that it may have a bit of autolysis from the lag. Otherwise, I wonder if the ramp up from 62 to 64 degrees did it or if it just was that under-pitched/over-stressed?

By the way chronical? Are you in Colorado or Washington state by any chance?

"special" Citra Pale Ale?

Yeah, 64F is too cold to start out an ale. I mean, it'll do it, but you'll have significantly more lag time than if you started it around 68-70F and then cooled it down to target range after 8-12hrs.

I don't always, but most dry yeasts I use tend to take in the 18-24hr range before I see airlock activity. If warmer, in upper 60's maybe take a few hours off from that time. Part of why I like clear carboys, I can at least see the initial foaming as the yeast works it's way towards actual CO2 production, as that precedes CO2 production by an easy few hours.

That said, I have had the occasional dry yeast (S04 often) I've seen take off in a matter of a few hours (as little as 4hrs).

Still chugging away at almost 1 burp in my blowoff every second or so. I raised the temp to 66 just a while ago. Still no signs of slowing down...a relief from the original post, but now i wish it was done....oh well, life of a homebrewer i guess. More to come.....

I kegged the aforementioned brew a few days ago. Suspense got the best of me tonight. SO, thought I would post a pic of the final result. It still needs to "age" a week or so to be a true judge, but the Citra nose is definitely there. Thanks everyone.

Looks delicious!

Pulled off another pint last night; same glass as pictured. Looks the same but the taste is very harsh. It hasn't really smoothed out like I had hoped. The Citra nose is there, not as I would have preferred, but it's there. I don't know that the sluggish yeast was the issue or if it was my water profile. I have since spent much time adjusting my apparently over bicarbonate water to a "smoother" profile.

I'm not sure about finishing the keg....but I'm going to give 'er the 'ol college try