I seem to have problems with getting fermentation going...
Yesterday I did a version of the Resilience IPA from Sierra Nevada.
I steeped the Crystal 60L for 20 minutes in 3 gallons, added 4 lbs of CBW Pale Ale DME, stirred it in, raised it to boiling and followed the schedule with 0.56 oz Centennial pellets at the start, another 0.56 oz and 0.56 oz of Cascade pellets after 65 minutes, and after an additional 15 minutes, another .23 oz of each. I let those sit for 20 minutes, cooled the wort down to 70 according to my digital thermometer, and siphoned it to the primary bucket. There was a lot of trub liquid in the bottom and some did transfer, but I'm not too concerned about that. After the evaporation and trub loss I had just shy of 2 gallons. I was aiming for 2.666 based on the amount of DME, but figured just adding a gallon was fine. I measured 1.056 on the hydrometer and proceeded to aerate the wort with a SS spatula. I managed to work up a bit of a foam splashing it around.
I took a bag of Imperial Yeast A20 (my LHBS did not have the A24, but I figured it was close enough) from the fridge. The manufacture date was from May, so it was past the 3 month suggested time frame, but I figured surely it was still fine. I massaged and shook it (maybe too hard?) as the bag suggested and poured it straight into the wort. Battened down the hatches and set the bucket in a tub. Apparently that wasn't necessary. So far there is no sign of fermentation. No airlock activity, and no krausen starting. It's been about 18 hours, so I know it's maybe still too soon, but I've been having a spate of difficult/failed fermentations, so I'm nervous.
The bucket sits on a counter near our thermostat. The ambient temperature is around 70. Maybe I should heat things up a bit? Sounds like A20 works better closer to 80...
Help?
Yesterday I did a version of the Resilience IPA from Sierra Nevada.
I steeped the Crystal 60L for 20 minutes in 3 gallons, added 4 lbs of CBW Pale Ale DME, stirred it in, raised it to boiling and followed the schedule with 0.56 oz Centennial pellets at the start, another 0.56 oz and 0.56 oz of Cascade pellets after 65 minutes, and after an additional 15 minutes, another .23 oz of each. I let those sit for 20 minutes, cooled the wort down to 70 according to my digital thermometer, and siphoned it to the primary bucket. There was a lot of trub liquid in the bottom and some did transfer, but I'm not too concerned about that. After the evaporation and trub loss I had just shy of 2 gallons. I was aiming for 2.666 based on the amount of DME, but figured just adding a gallon was fine. I measured 1.056 on the hydrometer and proceeded to aerate the wort with a SS spatula. I managed to work up a bit of a foam splashing it around.
I took a bag of Imperial Yeast A20 (my LHBS did not have the A24, but I figured it was close enough) from the fridge. The manufacture date was from May, so it was past the 3 month suggested time frame, but I figured surely it was still fine. I massaged and shook it (maybe too hard?) as the bag suggested and poured it straight into the wort. Battened down the hatches and set the bucket in a tub. Apparently that wasn't necessary. So far there is no sign of fermentation. No airlock activity, and no krausen starting. It's been about 18 hours, so I know it's maybe still too soon, but I've been having a spate of difficult/failed fermentations, so I'm nervous.
The bucket sits on a counter near our thermostat. The ambient temperature is around 70. Maybe I should heat things up a bit? Sounds like A20 works better closer to 80...
Help?