So I finally bought a basic brew kit started up my first batch: Muntons Old Conkerwood Black Ale. Was super careful with sterilization and such, and found the process to be generally easy, especially since it was all LME.
I made a first time mistake though. I rehydrated the yeast at way too high a temperature (70 C), like a fool! Pretty sure I killed my yeast. I pitched it anyway and hoped for the best.
Here's the wort right before pitching, at 1045 OG. (first picture)
http://imgur.com/a/uxI52
Well, my suspicions of killing the yeast were confirmed when I peeled off the lid off the wort after a few days of sitting at temps between 16 and 20 C. It wort looked exactly the same. No foam, no cloudiness, no nothing.
I lamented my rookie mistake to a veteran brewer, who generously gave me a small container of top-cropped yeast from one of his primaries. He mentioned that all would be well and that adding it to my wort should get it rocking and rolling in a matter of hours.
Well, that was 12 hours ago, and my wort looks, well, not active (see second photo). Just a few splotches.
Is this lack of activity normal? Shouldn't my brew be foaming at the mouth by now? I'm resisting the urge to keep checking it, and I think it's best to wait a few more days before adding more yeast, but I would really appreciate your opinions on this.
Thanks.
I made a first time mistake though. I rehydrated the yeast at way too high a temperature (70 C), like a fool! Pretty sure I killed my yeast. I pitched it anyway and hoped for the best.
Here's the wort right before pitching, at 1045 OG. (first picture)
http://imgur.com/a/uxI52
Well, my suspicions of killing the yeast were confirmed when I peeled off the lid off the wort after a few days of sitting at temps between 16 and 20 C. It wort looked exactly the same. No foam, no cloudiness, no nothing.
I lamented my rookie mistake to a veteran brewer, who generously gave me a small container of top-cropped yeast from one of his primaries. He mentioned that all would be well and that adding it to my wort should get it rocking and rolling in a matter of hours.
Well, that was 12 hours ago, and my wort looks, well, not active (see second photo). Just a few splotches.
Is this lack of activity normal? Shouldn't my brew be foaming at the mouth by now? I'm resisting the urge to keep checking it, and I think it's best to wait a few more days before adding more yeast, but I would really appreciate your opinions on this.
Thanks.
