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

i know with my microwave, 1 cup of water at a minute is close to boiling so you might have fried your yeast and turnd them into food for the next ones you pitch.. i wait until it gets down to 105f..

 

You are right, you still need to wait before you can decide if something is wrong.

Did you take a temp of the water by chance? Some people re-hydrate at 90*-105* as per the packaging instructions.

A small experiment to keep your hands busy in the meantime would be to nuke the same amount of water in the same bowl for the same amount of time and take a temp reading.

 

I did not measure the temp of the re-hydration water (should have though--first time lesson). I will run a test batch in the microwave to measure the temp. Heading out to the local brew shop later and will pick up a few extra yeast packets. Will wait another day probably before making the call on re-pitching.

Question: should I re-aerate before I pitch the new yeast?

 

In the interest of full disclosure, I just wanted to provide the thrilling conclusion to my Belgian Dubbel fermentation flop. Turns out everything went better than expected. I went ahead and bottled, priming with the recommended 3T of maple syrup. Let it condition for two weeks and put a couple in the fridge. Popped one last night and it hissed when I cracked the cap! Not only that, but it had a pretty decent head on it when I poured it into a glass. Tasted pretty good, too! So, even though I had no airlock activity and no krausen, fermentation, it seems, found a way. I was going to give up on this whole small-batch thing, but now I think I'll invest in a refractometer and give it another shot.

 

It takes 2 minutes to check the temp on the water. If it is over 120F, no need to waste another second: rehydrate and pitch that yeast. I always keep at least one pack of US-05 in the freezer. It lasts a LONG time that way and in the last 8 months I have needed it twice (though once was for a friend).

 

Congrats! I agree that a refractometer would be a good investment if you were to continue doing small batches.

 

Picked two packets of dry yeast yesterday. Guy at local brew shop said don't even bother re-hydrating just re-aerate and sprinkle straight in. Going to check my wort one more time this morning. Will report back.

 

If I had a nickel for all the bad advice given by brew shops....

 

Checked the wort a few minutes ago and what do you know...steady bubbles in the airlock. About 1 per second. Not sure when this started as I didn't check yesterday. Will let this go for about two weeks and bottle. I have a secondary fermenter but I don't want to risk contamination as I already opened the lid to check within the first 24 hrs.

 

My first batch was going crazy when I woke up 11 hours after pitching. My second batch is at 17 hours now and nothing. Same yeast, very similar OG. Oh well.

 

Beauty of Org chem and Micro Bio. more to it than just the gravity of the sample's

 

Well, after almost 36 hours, my pumpkin beer started to show signs of fermentation. Before I went to bed last night, there were N signs. No foam/ krausen, no bubbles in airlock, nothing floating around. It was just sitting there. Put it in the keezer with my other beer in primary (a pale ale), and woke up to about a 1/2 inch krause on top with bubbles in the airlock. I used WLP051 yeast which is known as a slow starter, but I didnt think it would be that low. I dont know if the lower temp is what it wanted, but it seemed to work. Fermenting away at about 65 deg F right now. Hope this helps anyone using this yeast. Be patient, and use a starter if you can.

 

Just had one take 80 hours to show a krausen or any visual signs of activity. No worries.

 

72 hours into my first batch. OG was 1.050 and I just checked the gravity...still 1.050.

I did notice a layer of something on the bottom. Is that the yeast or should I go buy more yeast and re-pitch? I used 1187 Ringwood Ale and the smack pack barely inflated.

 

Stuff on the bottom is probably break material and crud/stuff from the brew/boil.

Mine took over 84 hours to get started and it's rolling now.

 

Damn, that was my only hope that something was working.

So how long should I wait before I think of getting more yeast?

 

I think if your gravity hasn't changed after 72 hours you're justified in re-pitching. I'd re-aerate before, too.

 

Especially if no change in gravity. And probably only if no change in gravity.

 

Yeah I don't think I aerated enough so I bought some Nottingham dry yeast, sprinkled it on top, stirred it around and shook the fermenter so hopefully it does something now.

 

A sanitized whisk works really well to froth it up.

 

I shake like mad for 5 minutes with my carboys. I use a hand blender with whisk attachment for 5 minutes with my buckets. Will eventually get a whip degassing rod which should work on both as I've heard good things about them.

 

After re-pitching 2 days ago, I can see a huge layer of krausen on top of the beer now through the airlock hole, so it's finally fermenting. Yay.

 

I used to always have this prob, and I had a smack pack laying around made a hodgepodge beer and am worried if I have too much sugar in there because I used chocolate wheat malt and some other malts Ive never used before. And I had a smack pack laying around, its been 26 hours no bubbles yet... and yes I know bubbles dont mean fermenting but I like bubbles and bubbles like me. I am never using liquid yeast again bros, its all about that dry yeast and making a starter for ya boy from here on out. Booya!

 

After 4 days, the krausen is gone. Is this normal?

 

26 hours is nothing. Have you tried a starter with the liquid? Liquid gives you way more options for specific beer styles and dry yeasts don't need starters...but do what you want, that's part of the fun with brewing.

 

Can be. Depends on the gravity, yeast type, pitch rate...

 

I have not made a starter, I have all the tools to make a stir-plate but have not brought myself to make it because of the cutting and slicing of the electrical cord, I hope to make one soon though. I do hydrate the dry yeast when I use it, I just find that when using the rehydrated dry yeast the fermentation takes off within a few hours, and each time I use the liquid it takes 18 hours at least.

 

With a starter or proper pitch rate, liquid normally doesn't take that long for me. There are way more choices in liquid for specific beer styles you can't get with dry. All personal preference and what you want to do with your beer.

 

Update: 2 weeks later, my beer has an FG of 1.013. The OG was 1.050. So I guess it's around 4.9%. Not too bad for an IPA. Gonna check again in 3 days and if it's constant, I'll bottle on Wednesday. Thank you Nottingham dry yeast for saving my dead fermentation.

 

Agreed--I pretty much only use White Labs vials (not because they're better per se, I'm just a creature of habit, and I know the strains I like to use), and I always make a starter, and my beers generally always have active signs of fermentation w/in 12-15 hrs. The one exception I find is with bigger gravity beers, they tend to take a little longer to get really booming, perhaps because the starter is a lower OG than the wort?

 

funny, I was getting no bubbles after about 36 hrs and worried because I accidentally dropped the foil package into the wort as i was pitching the yeast. I could see kreusen through the side of my plastic fermenter, so I was pretty convinced that fermentation was occurring. then I noticed that the cork supporting the bubbler was not secure. I tightened it, and lots of CO2 action became visible

 

What about bubbling too early?

This is my 2nd extract brew experience. The recipe was a budget spiced lemon wheat beer seen here. Note how it uses the original (ale?) yeast that came with the extract, and both sachets.

First mistake: Forgot to take OG, but it looks like a relatively low gravity beer, right?

Anyhow, pitching temperature was about 21C (69.8F), measured directly. I pitched directly into the wort after a stir, closed the lid, then opened the lid after 5 minutes for another stir before locking it up.

I taped a temperature sensor to the fermentor and covered it by a few layers of bubblewrap to attenuate ambient room temperature.

I pitched at about 2pm on a Saturday, and by the late evening, there was some bubbling with temperature at about 23C (73.4F). By Sunday morning, there was a lot of krausen residue at the inside of the fermentor, and the airlock was bubbling away rapidly with temperature just under 26C (78.8F). By early Sunday afternoon the airlock bubbling had ceased to a stop, not even once per minute, and temperature was back down to 23C (73.4F). The gravity (at 24 hrs) read about 1.020.

Given the yeast used and the exposure to fairly high temperature overnight, should I be concerned that I no longer notice any airlock activity after just one day?

 

Every brew is different. You do what you can to keep temps where they should be, but in the end you get what you get.

The best you can do now is let it finish up, do what you can to finish strong, and next time you can do even better.

 

Naked,

The temps you referenced aren't exactly ideal--it's hard to know what the proper temp should be for your yeast if you don't know the exact strain, but 79F is pretty high for just about everything. What this means is that your yeast, which under cooler temperatures would probably produce a "cleaner" taste profile, probably generated more esters or off-flavors than they otherwise would. And when yeast ferment hot, they generally run through the sugars faster than they would at a cooler temperature, which is probably why you're not seeing much activity now.

However, this does NOT mean that your beer is ruined; in fact, it's probably just fine. I would put a wet towel around it and blow a fan on it to keep it as cool as you can manage (most ale yeasts ferment comfortably anywhere between about 63-72F, though some prefer cooler or warmer temps), and just let it sit for two, three weeks at a minimum. And, if after two weeks of sitting in bottles it doesn't taste perfect, let it sit for another two weeks, a month, or two months. Sometimes, particularly when the yeast didn't have ideal conditions during the initial ferment, it just takes them a little longer to clean up the beer, but they will almost always get there eventually. Just takes a little patience.

In the meantime, relax and have a homebrew. And before your next batch, plan some ways of keeping the temp down on your beer--the wet towel trick works pretty well, but you do have to change it periodically as it dries out.

Cheers.

 

Well, this thread is indeed magical. It had been 48 hours and I started to get the worries.... I realize and accept that it is irrational after only 48 hours, but irrational fears are difficult to suppress. I decided that I would read a few forum threads and see if I could make myself feel better. I started at the beginning of the thread and read about 100 posts. Decided to go and check if I could see/hear any bubbling. Couldn't. Grabbed a home brew while I was in the kitchen and read to about post #200. As it has been unseasonably cold the last couple days, I decided to take off the 3 fleece jackets I dressed my fermenter in and bring it into the living area as it was a bit warmer. Also decided to give it a bit of a swirl for good measure. I continued to drink my home brew and started to consider what kind of yeast I would re-pitch with. While I was reading post #240, the airlock gave me a sturdy, reassuring bubble.

Thanks for the distraction this thread has given me. All I really needed to do was DWRAHAHB. I will go to bed tonight knowing that the yeasties are busy at work and I will I rest a peaceful sleep.

EDIT: I have heard the airlock bubble three times while writing up this post.

 

Going against the advice of others at the local brew shop, I (a beginner, and on my third brew) decided to try a Czech pilsner since I love the beer and I have an empty kegarator to ferment in. I used a white labs liquid yeast and pitched it with what seemed like proper aeration and a temp around 70, I then slowly transferred it to a temp of about 48-50 degrees, but after 3 days I still see no bubbling. The fridge did get a in the mid 40's for about 12 hours, but I quickly turned it down to reach 50 degrees again. Should I try pitching another vial of white labs yeast? I didn't use a starter, but the guys at the local shop said that it shouldn't be necessary since white labs has a high count. Thoughts?

Mo

 

Pitch a starter. To figure out how big, go here: http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

And make sure you're specifying that it's a lager, not an ale. My guess is you'll need at least a 1.5L starter.

 

It depends on a lot of factors, but to be on the safe side I'd go a total of 3 weeks before bottling. Gives adequate time for things to clear up and condition out.

 

I'm brewing a Scottish ale problem is fermentation started right away went great for 2 days then faltered after waiting it out for 9 days I figured I would move it to a secondary carboy still nothing . Should I try pitching yeast again to see if I can jump start fermentation any help would be appreciated ?

 

You need to check gravity. It could be done already.