Fermentation can take 24 to 72 hrs to show visible signs.

[eforrest]

We've had some good advice from here, but my roommate and I eventually made the decision to re-pitch after nearly three days. It turned out to be a good idea; our fermentation rolled along for about a week, so we let it ride until we hit some consistent hydro readings. We racked to secondary last night. Everything seems to be going really well. Thanks for the advice, everyone.

 

[pcolson]

ok so i just made a starter for a lager 1 cup DME and 32 oz of water pitched yeast into starter at 69 degrees... sitting at 72 degrees in a dark area of my house?? good or bad?

 

[pcolson]

Also the yeast i used was WL840 american lager yeast.

 

[alamedabrew]

This was precisely the info I was trying to find out. I'm rather new to making beer. I've made a few beers from pre-made recipes but my current is a heavier Belgian triple strong ale. I pitched my yeast around 30 hours ago and still I have no fermentation action. I read that if that's the case, you should stir or mix the carboy a few times a day. My question is should I remove the air lock when I do this to introduce more Oxygen? I only ask because I don't want to risk contaminating the beer.

 

[Nurmey]

This was precisely the info I was trying to find out. I'm rather new to making beer. I've made a few beers from pre-made recipes but my current is a heavier Belgian triple strong ale. I pitched my yeast around 30 hours ago and still I have no fermentation action. I read that if that's the case, you should stir or mix the carboy a few times a day. My question is should I remove the air lock when I do this to introduce more Oxygen? I only ask because I don't want to risk contaminating the beer.

No need to remove airlock. Just swirl or rock your bucket or carboy around gently. Just enough to get the yeast into suspension again. Welcome to HBT!

 

[alamedabrew]

Thanks! That's sort of what I figured. Just gave it a swirl this morning. Hopefully it'll start doing its thing. If not, I blew a lot of dough on this formula. Probably close to $60 on all the grain, yeast, candy sugar, and other stuff.I'm trying to replicate Gulden Draak.

 

[noisy123]

I pitched onto an existing yeast cake with an amber ale. No fermentation after 36 hours. It should be plenty of yeast. I oxygenated well, the only thing I can figure is the temperature of the wort must have been high and I did not measure it properly. Should I pitch some dry yeast?

 

[Orfy]

That should take off.
Did you not measure the temperature?

 

[Revvy]

I pitched onto an existing yeast cake with an amber ale. No fermentation after 36 hours. It should be plenty of yeast. I oxygenated well, the only thing I can figure is the temperature of the wort must have been high and I did not measure it properly. Should I pitch some dry yeast?

Nope, it should take off anytime soon...besides, you weren't planning to reptich without first taking a hydro reading, correct?

http://blogs.homebrewtalk.com/Revvy/Think_evaluation_before_action/

 

[alamedabrew]

I came home yesterday after giving the carboy a shake and it was fermenting nicely. Thanks guys!

 

[noisy123]

Nope, it should take off anytime soon...besides, you weren't planning to reptich without first taking a hydro reading, correct?

http://blogs.homebrewtalk.com/Revvy/Think_evaluation_before_action/

I considered that I had missed the fermentation. I thought about it, and concluded there was NO WAY I missed the entire fermentation in less than 12 hours and the kruesen already rose and fell. So I did not bother to take a hydrometer reading, and I pitched some Safbrew T-58. I figured all the yeasty crap on the sides of the glass were just bits of trub I mixed up when I aerated. I also figured that alcohol-y smell was due to the old batch. Well :cross: the hydrometer reads 1.01 I can't friggen believe it.

Of course the dry yeast is pretty ticked at me I'm sure and I don't think I should harvest the yeast cake now (T-58 + Wyeast 1056 = who knows?).

I read your blog Revy (after pitching), all I can say is I Believe! There probably won't be any consequences from pitching the dry yeast will there?

 

[Revvy]

I considered that I had missed the fermentation. I thought about it, and concluded there was NO WAY I missed the entire fermentation in less than 12 hours and the kruesen already rose and fell. So I did not bother to take a hydrometer reading, and I pitched some Safbrew T-58. I figured all the yeasty crap on the sides of the glass were just bits of trub I mixed up when I aerated. I also figured that alcohol-y smell was due to the old batch. Well :cross: the hydrometer reads 1.01 I can't friggen believe it.

Of course the dry yeast is pretty ticked at me I'm sure and I don't think I should harvest the yeast cake now (T-58 + Wyeast 1056 = who knows?).

I read your blog Revy (after pitching), all I can say is I Believe! There probably won't be any consequences from pitching the dry yeast will there?

I'm not a big fan of overpitching yeast...too much can overpower a beer. And yes fermentation can take 12 hours to work through...

Betcha wished you read it first now,

Next time, don't assume you know what your beer's doing...I don't know how many batches I've brewed and I never assume anything when dealing with living yeastie beasties, except that they know what the heck they're doing.

It'll be fine.

 

[Rad-Rabbit]

39 hours ago I pitched WLP0051 (California V Ale Yeast) Yeast into an Amber Ale made using 6.6lbs LME and 1.5lbs grains.

The yeast was bought locally and well within it usage date. I let it warm to room temp for 7 hours, shook it well, waited until I dumped the wort into the fermenter, shook again then pitched it.

My Bucket is New and sealed very securely. The airlock is also on securely with no leaks. The wort was aerated well with a splashing pour into the bucket as well as the additional water, Then I followed with a stir plastic paddle. The Temperature on the fermenter is 70 degrees which is within the working range for the yeast.

A few hours ago I gave the bucket a light shake to get things moving, Still nothing.
What is wrong?

 

[Rad-Rabbit]

Thanks for guiding me to this thread.

 

[Bob]

39 hours ago I pitched WLP0051 (California V Ale Yeast) Yeast into an Amber Ale made using 6.6lbs LME and 1.5lbs grains.

The yeast was bought locally and well within it usage date. I let it warm to room temp for 7 hours, shook it well, waited until I dumped the wort into the fermenter, shook again then pitched it.

My Bucket is New and sealed very securely. The airlock is also on securely with no leaks. The wort was aerated well with a splashing pour into the bucket as well as the additional water, Then I followed with a stir plastic paddle. The Temperature on the fermenter is 70 degrees which is within the working range for the yeast.

A few hours ago I gave the bucket a light shake to get things moving, Still nothing.
What is wrong?

You didn't pitch enough yeast. One vial of White Labs is insufficient, it's underpitching. Let's do the math, shall we?

According to White Labs, one vial contains 70-140 billion active cells. According to the Pitching Calculator at Mr Malty, you need at least 180 billion cells to properly pitch your wort (~1.050 OG). Even if you give the vial the best-case scenario, you're still short a lot of cells!

So your yeastie-beasties have to reproduce to get enough cells for a good ferment. Give it another 12-24 hours; you ought to see activity then.

And chalk this up to "lessons learned". One vial is not enough, not even for the lightest beers, no matter what the yeast company's propaganda tries to sell you!

Cheers,

Bob

 

[marcman84]

hello, first post here, complete noobie.

so i brewed my first batch of beer on saturday 4th and today is the 6th and there is no airlock activity, only a small krausen when i take a peek through the hole in the top of the bucket. I made a coopers beer kit and after reading everything on the How to Brew website, i made it according to the section on beer kits. basically, it says to throw out the instructions and don't add any corn sugar as they will deplete the FANs in the wort. my OG reading on saturday after i pitched was 1.020 which seems very small.

Question: should i boil up some corn sugar water and add it to the fermenting wort? or just leave it? or worse?
i'm not really interested in this beer being the best ever as it is my first one, but i would like it to be somewhat drinkable...

UPDATE: ok so i got home and took a gravity reading and it said 1.030 so the original reading must have been wrong, also it tasted good and i could detect a little alcohol taste and it was slightly carbonated.

 

[tom777]

I have 25 or so batches under my belt so far. I've never had a problem with a batch where I was worried about the fermentation getting started. Until now.
On Tuesday evening this week I brewed a Brewers Best Dunkelweizen which came with Danstar Munich dry yeast which I rehydrated as I've done with every batch so far (no experience with liquid yeast as of yet). OG was 1.054.
While I don't pay much attention to my active fermenters any more (the first few batches I watched like a hawk), I do usually check in after the day after pitching to be sure things are ok.
On Wednesday, nothing happening. Started to be a little concerned, but not too worried yet. Thursday morning, still nothing. I picked up a pack of Coopers yeast on the way home from work just in case. Still nothing in the evening. I was getting a little more concerned at this point and read this thread for the first time. Friday evening (getting close to 72 hours at this point), there is still nothing. The airlock is bottomed out, and no hint of pressure on the bucket lid whatsoever. At this point I pulled the lid of to take a hydrometer sample. There were no bubbles or foam on the surface. The gravity at this point was 1.051. I convince myself to give it another day or two before pitching some more yeast.
This morning (Saturday, T + 84hrs) there seemed to be a bit of pressure on the bucket lid, but no active airlock activity, but I didn't watch for too long. As of early this evening (T+ 92hrs), there is a slow but steady bubbling in the airlock. Things are looking up. With a little luck, this batch might still turn out ok.

 

[kahunaman]

To all of you that are sad because you've waited 3/4/10/12/18/36/48 hours and have seen no bubbles, I'd like to just RE-post the following sticky regarding fermentation start times from the stickies of this section:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/fermentation-can-take-24-72-hrs-start-43635/

The post has magical properties. I was waiting for almost 2 days for a batch to start bubbling, and was about to post the usual "WTF I pitched and had a starter and did everything perfectly and all of my other batches were fermenting 15 minutes after I pitched and I think my yeast is bad and do I have a virus and I washed my carboy out with lye soap could that be it and I don't think this is working properly and can someone fix this for me" post... when I decided to instead RE-Read the sticky on fermentation.

I read the ENTIRE thread...

then I grabbed a beer... drank it... and walked downstairs.

I looked at my fermenter, and just as I glanced at it.. A BUBBLE!

Then? 2 MORE!

Please follow the ritual of reading the entire thread, and then having a beer, and lets see if the magical properties of the post do truly exist!

 

[Tatiana]

What exactly will the brew look like when it has started fermenting? My recipe said to remove the lid and stir vigorously if it hadn't started fermenting after 24 hours. There was a thick foamy layer on top. Is this... normal? Correct? Horrible? The end of times?

 

[Revvy]

What exactly will the brew look like when it has started fermenting? My recipe said to remove the lid and stir vigorously if it hadn't started fermenting after 24 hours. There was a thick foamy layer on top. Is this... normal? Correct? Horrible? The end of times?

THose instructions are bad, you shouldn't open the fermenter OR stir it up after 24 hours....anything past 11 hours after yeast pitch (in a hogh grav wort) can casue oxidation...

WHat you saw is krauzen...it's the house that the yeast built...that means it's fermenting fine and dandy...now just walk away for 10 days or more and it will be fine.

 

[Tatiana]

Hm... should have posted BEFORE opening, I guess. Thanks for the tip, though. Hopefully it is still delicious, or at least has an alcohol content.

 

[jfkunal]

My local bre store told me to shake primary fermentor as i was not getting any signs of fermentation (No change in SG, no bubbles or foam). I hope its not oxidized!

 

[KeeferMan]

My local bre store told me to shake primary fermentor as i was not getting any signs of fermentation (No change in SG, no bubbles or foam). I hope its not oxidized!

Same with me, I sloshed it around in the carboy. Kick started the fermentation but sure hope I didn't ruin it!

 

[Hugh_Jass]

Rev.
Wanted to let you know that everything is o.k. Checked on the primary this morn. There is still no bubbler activity, but when putting my nose to the bucket, there is that distinct aroma. I opened the lid and saw A LOT OF KRAUSEN. So much that I had to resist the temptation to make a beard and mustache out of it. hahahahaha. I'm going to give it 10 days until I check S.G. again.
Thanks

 

[Revvy]

Rev.
Wanted to let you know that everything is o.k. Checked on the primary this morn. There is still no bubbler activity, but when putting my nose to the bucket, there is that distinct aroma. I opened the lid and saw A LOT OF KRAUSEN. So much that I had to resist the temptation to make a beard and mustache out of it. hahahahaha. I'm going to give it 10 days until I check S.G. again.
Thanks

Glad to here it!!!!!!!!!

 

[Revvy]

I'm posting this in here so it's part of the "canon" of info...

It's from another thread...

I read the sticky at the top of the forum page but it contains extremely contradictory advise. Several posts say fermentation needs to start BEFORE 12 hours (that is, there should be visible sighs!) while several other posts says no, no, WAIT 72 HOURS. WTF?! As a n00b, I am not sure which to believe...

.....

Two things come into play here...How do you define no fermentation happenning? If you are in a bucket and going by airlock activity then you are using a faulty indicator of it...It's NOT a fermentation gauge, airlock bubbling means absolutely nothing, it's just a pressure release valve, something to keep from blowing the lid of the fermentor...

If you are in a carboy then you MAY see a krausen OR you MAY have had a rapid fermentation and the Krauzen fell while you were asleep...

GENERALLY speaking the 72 hour rule of thumb serves several purposes...it takes into account LAG TIME that some yeast DO Need before they start.

It takes into consideration the fact that NO TWO FERMENTATIONS ARE EVER THE SAME....Since we're dealing with living micro-organisms it's important to note this fact....and because that one must learn to realize this, and trust that in most normal circumstances the yeasts ARE FINE, they've been doing it for several thousands of years, and THEY are the experts...

A normal healthy yeast, in a sanitary environment, brewing a normal gravity beer between 60 and 70 degrees (for ale, less for lager) WILL 99% of the time FERMENT....it's not like the old days when yeast came in one strain, in an ugly dried out cake....A lot of the mentions in books and things about stuck fermentations were from back in the bad old days....and someone reads something about it, and usually uses airlock activity as an indication and panics and thinks their fermentation is stuck...and the meme virus continues.

Stuck fermentations do happen (I'm dealing with one now), but they are not as common as the threads here indicate. They are the result of things like high grav worts, temp fluctuations , or less than healthy yeasts or under pitching.)

What we recommend is that if you are nervous, to wait 72 hours and take a hydro reading....99.9% of the people who start these threads and do that, come back and say... "Oh yeah I panicked for nothing, the beer is fermenting, hehehe."

Like this from today.....

Rev.
Wanted to let you know that everything is o.k. Checked on the primary this morn. There is still no bubbler activity, but when putting my nose to the bucket, there is that distinct aroma. I opened the lid and saw A LOT OF KRAUSEN. So much that I had to resist the temptation to make a beard and mustache out of it. hahahahaha. I'm going to give it 10 days until I check S.G. again.
Thanks

If you have no drop in gravity points, then you pitch a clean dry yeast into the fermentor...just sprinkle it on top, or rehydrate....then you close up and walk away...

Take a read of this for more info...http://blogs.homebrewtalk.com/Revvy/Think_evaluation_before_action/

A lot of us pitch, walk away from the fermentor and return in a month to bottle trusting that all is well....because 99% of the time it is.

 

[spriggan486]

I just started my very first home brew attempt last night. It's 5 gal batch of coopers bitter. Within 10 hours it had about 3 inches of krausen and I was seeing a bubble about every two and a half seconds. is that a normal timeframe to be seeing that kind of activity?

 

[jimmymcfarlson]

I am completely new to homebrewing and after finding this great website I am positive I have already made a big mistake. I just brewed my 1st batch and I only left in primary for 4 days and secondary for 5, then bottled. I know I should have done some research before but me and my friends were just in a hurry to get beer. Next time I will use the 1-2-3 method. If it helps the ending SG was 1.013 and my instructions called for 1.013 or below. Please any comments would help on what problems I am looking at.

 

[Revvy]

I am completely new to homebrewing and after finding this great website I am positive I have already made a big mistake. I just brewed my 1st batch and I only left in primary for 4 days and secondary for 5, then bottled. I know I should have done some research before but me and my friends were just in a hurry to get beer. Next time I will use the 1-2-3 method. If it helps the ending SG was 1.013 and my instructions called for 1.013 or below. Please any comments would help on what problems I am looking at.

Just that your beer might taste like A$$ for a few weeks until it mellows out. But don't worry, it well come around eventually.

This is a game of patience...

Read what this new brewer just posted. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/990203-post1.html

Also, this, https://www.homebrewtalk.com/558191-post101.html

Just leave them alone for a few weeks, let them condition. And next time WAIT!!!

Many of us leave our beers in primary for like the poster said, 3-4 weeks.

 

[sidpa]

This is my second batch. Both were Brewers Best Red Ale. First batch was great.

I just brewed my second batch on Tues. Put it in the primary and noticed that I didn't see any bubbling at all...even after a few days. Today (Saturday) I decided to take a reading and I was unable to get one. It just sank. Any thoughts? Is there anything I can do to save it? If not, what did I do wrong.

Just trying to decide if I should scrap this batch and start over again but am reluctant until I can figure out what happened.

 

[Poincare]

If we have a single-stage beer (i.e., from a kit and don't need to transfer it to a secondary) what is the best way to make sure fermentation is done? Several people say to check the hydrometer but how do I know what the gravity should be at? My original gravity was 1040 and I bottled this at 1.012... bottled after 7 days. How can I be sure it's the right time to bottle??

Much appreciation on any help!

 

[Eves]

Its funny...I've been brewing for months now, have ~10 brews under my belt and am on my 3rd batch of Apfelwine and still its hard not to worry when an airlock is quiet after the first 24 hours. I know I shouldn't worry yet but...

 

[Eves]

If we have a single-stage beer (i.e., from a kit and don't need to transfer it to a secondary) what is the best way to make sure fermentation is done? Several people say to check the hydrometer but how do I know what the gravity should be at? My original gravity was 1040 and I bottled this at 1.012... bottled after 7 days. How can I be sure it's the right time to bottle??

Much appreciation on any help!

A lot of kits give you an idea of what kind of FG you should end up with. If you don't have that then you need some sort of brewing software. You could try Beer Calculus . homebrew recipe calculator. It is not a perfect calculator but its not bad. Just plug in the fermentables and you should see the expected FG.

 

[rtockst]

so I just brewed my second batch last night, and I had a couple of buddies come over to help me out. They haven't brewed at all before and I doubt they have even really looked into it. They seem to drag me into partying alot and unfortunately.... I got pretty smashed last night when we were brewing. I really wish I wouldn't have.... 2nd batch ever and I tried all grain on my stovetop... didn't turn out too bad, ended up with 4.5 gal going into primary at an OG of 1.04.

Anyway, I woke up today and checked it out to see if there was any signs of fermentation. Nothing. And by the time we siphoned, topped off, and pitched the yeast last night I was pretty tipsy. So I really have no idea if I aerated the wort at all before I pitched. I only topped off with about a gallon of water to make 4.5 gal so I didn't add in very much oxygenated water. I was a little worried that I didn't aerate last night so i rocked my bucket back and forth this morning to try to aerate it a little. That was about 9 hours after I pitched. Is it bad that I tried to aerate so long after pitching?

I also wondered how easy it is to get your yeast too cold and freeze or kill them. I had my yeast in my fridge until I used it, and I think it may be too cold in my fridge. A few things were a little frozen. I looked at the yeast and I didn't see any ice or anything, but I know it was cold enough to freeze some things in there. white labs yeast by the way

 

[KingHippo]

about 30hrs in bucket, no bubbles ,I started worring that i didn't aerate good enough, so i decided to give her a good stir(prob bad idea!) there was 1 inch of foam on top,does that mean fermentation was just begining?

 

[LovetheHops]

My friend recently piched White Labs Britiash Ale Yeast that was save from the yeast cake of a previous batch. The volume of liquid with suspended yeast was probably only 4 oz. I have pitched washed yeast before successfully, but with volumes of over 16oz. I suspect that the yeast count was low. So, fermentation did not start in 3 days, so he repitch some additional yeast from the same wash. Fermentation started on day 4 or 5, and we tasted after 1.5 weeks in the primary. The beer tasted like burned rubber. Is this an infection or is this the result of insufficient yeast count? ~Thanks

 

[Yooper]

about 30hrs in bucket, no bubbles ,I started worring that i didn't aerate good enough, so i decided to give her a good stir(prob bad idea!) there was 1 inch of foam on top,does that mean fermentation was just begining?

Krausen is a sign of fermentation, but I couldn't tell you if fermentation was beginning, in the middle, or ending. Once the krausen has fallen, though, you know it's over. Bubbling from the airlock is not a sign of fermentation, since it can be very unreliable, as you've learned!

My friend recently piched White Labs Britiash Ale Yeast that was save from the yeast cake of a previous batch. The volume of liquid with suspended yeast was probably only 4 oz. I have pitched washed yeast before successfully, but with volumes of over 16oz. I suspect that the yeast count was low. So, fermentation did not start in 3 days, so he repitch some additional yeast from the same wash. Fermentation started on day 4 or 5, and we tasted after 1.5 weeks in the primary. The beer tasted like burned rubber. Is this an infection or is this the result of insufficient yeast count? ~Thanks

Probably stressed yeast. It sounds like it, but I can't tell you for sure.

 

[LovetheHops]

Probably stressed yeast. It sounds like it, but I can't tell you for sure.

If it is stressed yeast, will this beer heal itself?

 

[ATL]

just thought I would share my story:

saturday night around 11:00PM I pitched a single vial or white labs yeast into 5 gal of 1.044 OG beer @ 72ish degrees, I had never used white labs yeast before (I usually use wyeast activators and I've used dry yeast a few times). I have never had fermentation take more than 24 hours to be visible, so when my air lock had not started bubbling after 48 hours I started to worry a bit. I read this thread (did not drink a homebrew) and said I would take a gravity reading tonight.

Well tonight, I grabbed my hydrometer, my sanitised wine thief and a homebrew. I headed off to take another reading to see if anything was going on at all. I started taking the blanket off my 6.5gal carboy and what do you know... I have an inch of krausen on top of the liquid (when I last looked at it 10 hours before, there was nothing there at all)

so a note to everyone at 62 hours after pitching your yeast with no signs of life, don't give up yet, and as always RDWHAH

 

[reim0027]

Yeah, I use White Labs yeast. My first batch, I did not do a yeast starter, nor did I oxygenate very well. It took almost 72 hours for the first bubble to come out of the airlock. I was worried as hell, but I though there was nothing I could do but wait. Waiting a few days for it to start was rough (especially for my first batch). That was when I first learned about RDWHAHB (I learned a different saying, but same meaning).

Now, I do a yeast starter and use a drill bit designed for wort oxygenation (so I get very good oxygenation). Fermentation starts in under 24 hours (with the same White Labs liquid yeast) and finishes rapidly.