Beer not showing activity in carboy

[nunnlife]

Hey party people,

I just started a Belgian inspired Christmas Ale that is sitting in a carboy as we speak but not seeing any activity after 17 hours. I am relatively new to brewing and only have done a half dozen batches and decided on making my own recipe (still utilizing dry and liquid malts since I don't have a mash tun yet). I know that the Airlock isn't what matters but what the FG reads in comparison to the OG. However, the previous beers I have done would have had a nice foaming, bubbly head on the beer in the carboy, but this one doesn't. Two potential problems could have occurred:
1) We pitched the yeast when it was too hot. We read the temp at 80 degrees before adding another gallon of cold water and transferring it to the carboy. It slipped my mind to do a final temp reading before pitching the yeast. I highly doubt that the yeast would have been killed with just a few degrees off, but this could be a possibility.
2) I have the carboy sitting in a dark closet that is reading a 65 degree temp. I put a couple sweaters on it to keep it warm, but the temp could have fallen below the desired 70-75 degrees the yeast wanted (WLP530 Abbey Ale Yeast).

The beer was given plenty of aeration when pitched through rocking the carboy as usual.

Does anyone have recommendations moving forward? Should I pitch another set of yeast?

Cheers,

Tim

 

[wmcc75]

Did you make a starter? Also how old was the yeast? 17 hours is a bit premature to worry to much. Relax have a brew from a previous batch and let the yeast do their thing.

 

[NewWestBrewer]

Do not worry unless you see no activity for 72. Yeast might just be taking their sweet ass time.

 

[flars]

Optimum fermentation temperature for WLP530 is 66° to 72°. Time to get that fermentor into a swamp cooler. Fermentation will raise the wort temp 5° to 10°. You may soon be cleaning wort off the ceiling if the fermentation becomes aggressive due to high temps.

 

[Rhumbline]

Just chill out. If you see no evidence of fermentation after 72 hours then you can start considering options.

Give it two more days.

 

[jeff62217]

Hang tight Tim. I just did my first barleywine last weekend and it took about 36 hours to show any signs at all.

Of course, I under pitched by about 1.5 liters, probably stressed the hell out of my yeast, but it's all good. Fermenting like crazy now.

 

[nunnlife]

Great news! I just read that liquid yeasts take more time to start than dry yeast, which this is my first liquid yeast. Hoping for a hefty brew! OG of 1.080 and shooting for a 8% ABV.
Good thinking about moving it to cooler spot. Should I wait until I get activity before moving it? I have a cooler spot in my basement that will do the trick to make up for the 5-10 degree difference.

 

[k_mcarthur]

Great news! I just read that liquid yeasts take more time to start than dry yeast, which this is my first liquid yeast. Hoping for a hefty brew! OG of 1.080 and shooting for a 8% ABV.
Good thinking about moving it to cooler spot. Should I wait until I get activity before moving it? I have a cooler spot in my basement that will do the trick to make up for the 5-10 degree difference.

Did you do a starter with that liquid yeast? Would definitely need to do one for a tall beer such as that.

 

[nunnlife]

The beer started bubbling this morning after less than 30 hours! It has been nearly 48 hours and now and has a constant airlock bubble and a nice foam head.

No, we didn't do a starter. I am pretty new brewing and haven't ever done a starter. The last IPA I did we used dry yeast, didn't use a starter and ended up at 7.5%. We did a single stage fermentation in a carboy and simply gave the carboy a good rock after pitching for aeration. We used a liquid yeast this time on a OG of 1.075 and also just aerated by rocking the carboy. Since we didn't use a starter, what can I expect to happen? Thankfully I'll at least have beer since it's showing active signs of fermentation.