Failed Yeast?

[Vintage NY]

so I made a rookie mistake.... knew I had a yeast pack with my stout kit, but I must have used it... ready to pitch yeast, and I recalled getting liquid yeast pack that I kept in fridge for at least 6 months. The OG of my modified stout was 1.090, but no activity after 48 hours. Have also read that one liquid pack won’t fully ferment the high gravity. I opened the bucket to check, and zero activity, so not just poor air lock activity. I ordered some dry yeast that will be here in two days.... can I save this beer? The sample wort tasted great... and am looking forward to the beer. Thoughts? And if I can throw some dry yeast in, do I aerate again, or will oxygen be bad? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[RPh_Guy]

You already aerated? Just rehydrate and pitch the dry yeast when it arrives.
Assuming nothing contaminates the batch in the meantime it should be fine. Keep it closed.

Good luck!

 

[505-Brewer]

Contamination is the main concern. Aeration wouldnt hurt (doesn’t seem like you are even in the aerobic phase yet haha) but w dry yeast it probably isnt needed.

 

[RM-MN]

so I made a rookie mistake.... knew I had a yeast pack with my stout kit, but I must have used it... ready to pitch yeast, and I recalled getting liquid yeast pack that I kept in fridge for at least 6 months. The OG of my modified stout was 1.090, but no activity after 48 hours. Have also read that one liquid pack won’t fully ferment the high gravity. I opened the bucket to check, and zero activity, so not just poor air lock activity. I ordered some dry yeast that will be here in two days.... can I save this beer? The sample wort tasted great... and am looking forward to the beer. Thoughts? And if I can throw some dry yeast in, do I aerate again, or will oxygen be bad? Any help would be appreciated.

Take a hydrometer sample before you do anything more. Your beer may have already fermented. Bucket lids leak so the beer can ferment without any airlock activity.

 

[Soulshine2]

so , you had activity and now after 48 hrs , there isn't? sounds like the most part of fermentation is done, whats it look like, might just need to clean up . let it ride another week , check gravity.

 

[Vintage NY]

so , you had activity and now after 48 hrs , there isn't? sounds like the most part of fermentation is done, whats it look like, might just need to clean up . let it ride another week , check gravity.

No activity after 48 hours.

 

[Vintage NY]

Thanks all... will pitch the dry yeast when it arrives

 

[RM-MN]

Thanks all... will pitch the dry yeast when it arrives

Not until after you take a hydrometer reading and verify that your old yeast was dead.

 

[Vintage NY]

So, thanks all for the input, but now I’m at a crossroads (and I’m pretty sure I know the answer), but still ask form the more experienced. Seven days in and I finally received some dry yeast from Northern Brewer. All excited to get this beer going, but decided to check my SG first. THANKS RN-MN!

THE OG was 1.070. SG tonight, 1.030. Not the attenuation I was shooting for (wanted higher ABV) , but the sample flavor i took is a good beer.

When I looked inside the bucket two days after pitching, there was no krausen. I dont want to open it now for fear of contamination to check. I have had zero signs of activity, except the SG. Is it correct that a liquid English Ale Yeast is slooooow to work?

I’m going to let it sit another 5 days. No change in SG, I’ll bottle. But.... would it be advisable to pitch a bit of dry yeast to get it working again? Bring the SG down?

I keep learning something every batch.

It is a “stout”, so a bit of sweetness is not bad....

 

[RM-MN]

Without the recipe you used so we can get an idea of what the FG should be (some beers have ingredients that cannot be fermented) we can't give you good advice. 1.030 seems pretty high but that is where some beers will finish. We also need to know the yeast you used as there is a difference in what they can digest so some leave more unfermented sugars. I doubt that adding dry yeast now will help much as it would have to compete with the yeast already in there plus the alcohol content.

We'd also like to know the temperature at which you are fermenting the beer. Many of us use active control of the temperature and with that cooling the yeast activity can be slowed. After a few days letting the beer warm can increase attenuation but without knowing the temperature of your fermentation that may be the wrong approach.

 

[balrog]

Many times english yeasts work better to swirl daily during ferm.
I've had to freaking sanitize and stir (yes, avoid oxygen) up the damned cake as early as day 3 sometimes just to keep it going, and then raise the temp, and then stir some more.

Warm it up. Stir it up (carefully). Wait.

 

[azazelthegreat]

So i had a similar "problem" I bought the northern brewing Chocolate stout kit and i have no activity after i think 4 days. Im leaving it alone until i add my nibs/ P2b powder.

I am worried about infection on this batch since i kinda rushed it and forgot to sanitize a few things. But we'll see

 

[RPh_Guy]

Many times english yeasts work better to swirl daily during ferm.
I've had to freaking sanitize and stir (yes, avoid oxygen) up the damned cake as early as day 3 sometimes just to keep it going, and then raise the temp, and then stir some more.

Warm it up. Stir it up (carefully). Wait.

This has been my experience with S-04.
On the other hand, Imperial Darkness (the one time I used it) fully attenuated before flocculating.

 

[MaaZeus]

My S-04 did that too. It started like a rocket, then suddenly stopped because the room was a bit too cool. But I moved the bucket into a much warmer room and it slowly started to ferment again, I did not stir. To my knowledge cool temperatures are more important during the initial phase of fermentation anyway so no need to worry about bad esters if you let it warm up considerably more during the final phases.

 

[Vintage NY]

All, again, thank you... I am happy to report that at one week I took another reading... and the SG dropped to 1.03. So I gave it the slightest rock and another week, it was at 1.01. I am bottling tonight. Final result, i hope is a strong dark ale!

 

[RPh_Guy]

Nice!

FYI you should read the hydrometer to the thousandth like 1.017