Stalled Fermentation / Murdered Yeast

[BlackToothGrin]

Hi y'all,

I am sickly worried about my first attempt at a 5gal batch. It's been over 30 hours and no sign of yeast activity or bubbling, all the yeast has sunk to the bottom and remained lifeless. I would have preferred to share a success story with you helpful folk as my first post but I am freaking out a little at the prospect of losing this batch! (Never failed a 1gal, why is this happening now??) I was hoping the voice of collective experience could point me in the right direction to save the day!


Recipe:

20lbs Honey
4gal Spring Water
EC-1118 Yeast
3tbsp Ground Black Tea Leaves
1 Lemon juice + rind
1 Lime juice + rind


Considerations I ruled out:

Everything was properly sanitized with StarSan, but even contamination shouldn't have this kind of impact. I gave the must a good 10mn shake to aerate before adding the yeast starter, and the carboy's been covered with several layers of cheesecloth to let it breathe since. The yeast starter didn't go wrong either; I simply used 2 cups warm spring water with 2tbsps brown sugar for one pack EC-1118, soak time 20mn with some stirring; it had the usual yeasty smell. I don't boil the must either.


Potential Culprits:

It's a crazy sweet must, my OG was 1.140. I've read that too much sugar can overwhelm and stall the yeast; will I potentially have to split the batch and dilute further?

I've always brewed all-natural, so no chemical energizer or nutrient (I use powdered tea leaves and citrus juices/rinds and never had a prob), maybe a 5gal batch goes beyond that? Can I really just add some DAP and kick start the yeasties?

Also its the first time brewing in my new apartment and I'm not 100% familiar with the behavior of the different rooms yet; I'm worried that temperature variation may have affected it overnight.


My gut tells me either I overdid it on the honey and its too sweet, or I am psyching myself out and need to wait longer.. Any thoughts are appreciated, thanks

 

[gratus fermentatio]

It can take as long as 72 hrs to see any indications of active fermentation from yeast. Some yeast strains are a bit sneaky, in the sense that they don't give much indication that they're working, even though they are. Is the must cloudy? I'd certainly add a dose of DAP & yeast nutrient to ensure a healthy fermentation, there's not much in the way of nutrition for the yeast in honey & water.
Have a look at this & the yeast data sheet:
http://www.lalvinyeast.com/EC1118.asp
The yeast is likely doing its' thing, it's just being sneaky & maybe a bit slow to start. If you really feel the need, you can always take a hydrometer reading a few days apart & see if the SG is getting lower, if so, then it's working.
Regards, GF.

 

[madscientist451]

I'd add some yeast nutrient and swirl the carboy a few times a day until you get something happening. I'd also go with an airlock on the carboy.
If you have another carboy, you could try to splash rack from one to another to add some oxygen to the must. What temperature is the carboy in right now?

 

[imasickboy]

Pfff. Let it sit. If you did everything the same as you do with prior smaller batches, give it a day. But do put an airlock on it.

If there's still no sign of any activity in another 24 hours, then it may be time to take some of those other steps.

 

[BlackToothGrin]

Hey Everyone,

Thanks for your replies, I know these kind of threads pop up every other week on mead forums so I appreciate your patience.

It is now 5 days into what is supposed to be primary (120 hours) and the yeast is definitely a non-starter. 24 hours after my original post (56 hours in) I gave it a quick swirl and airlocked it; still no bubbling activity in the airlock or carboy since the pitch. I've taken another hydrometer reading and it still stands at 1.140, no change.

I don't have an exact temperature reading but it is well within the 10-30 celsius range for EC-1118 with no major fluctuations, so that's not the culprit. Reading the data sheet though (thanks for that link GF!) it mentions cold-shocking when introducing the starter to the must, a suspect that didn't occur to me before; it's possible I done goofed there.

My next course of action will be to add some nutrient & energizer to salvage the batch. If after 24 hours that shows no sign of life, I was considering adding a second pack of EC-1118 starter, this time monitoring temp and timing closely and doing it all by the book. Seems reasonable?

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Ah, Just read your OG, that's the likely culprit right there. I've had that happen. Can't believe I missed it the 1st time. I added a pint of water to the must & it took off within a few hours. You could do that if you have enough space in your fermentor, or you could pull a sample of must & add water to that & see if it starts up. If it does, then you need to dilute the must.

You can siphon off a few pints & save them. Replace with water for dilution, then when topping up after racking, you can top up with the undiluted must instead of water.
Regards, GF.

 

[BlackToothGrin]

Hey,

Just an update to say everything is fine now. Too-sweet OG was my original suspicion and it did do the trick; I set aside 1.5L of must and replaced it with spring water, the new OG was then 1.124 and the airlock's been bubbling nicely since. Thanks for the input GF.

I will update in a few months after secondaries with pictures and tasting of the final products. This 5gal batch I intend to split up into several 1gal batches, some of which will be raspberry or spiced mead, some of which will remain the original control recipe, as this is my first time experimenting with adding stuff in secondary. (I've always brewed everything in one straight shot with only a secondary racking before)