24 to 72 Hours?

[MNHopHead]

Under what conditions can fermentation take 24 to 72 hours to show visible signs?

I made a 3 gallon batch of some brown ale (Palmer's grain bill) last night in my new 10-gallon cooler system. I directly pitched 1 cup of 4th generation 1084 sludge that I had been harvesting from, well, 3 different batches. 12 hours later, no visible signs of fermentation. Could it be that the sludge needs more time to dispense and acclimate? I only aerated through a fine mesh filter thing, I'm thinking this could be contributing to the long lag.

Any other thoughts? Are my thoughts on the right track?

Cheers!

 

[AnOldUR]

Response to a post can take 24 to 72 hrs to show visible signs.
Re-pitching in another thread is not necessary.

 

[BeerEagle]

Response to a post can take 24 to 72 hrs to show visible signs.
Re-pitching in another thread is not necessary.

Zing!

 

[MNHopHead]

Zing is right. I feel so "junior"...

 

[BeerEagle]

Zing is right. I feel so "junior"...

LOL. Couldn't resist a quick tease. Don't worry. There's a huge resource of friendly fellow home brewers here willing to help.

And there's a way that most of the "senior" guys find unanswered thread and leap on them and answer.

 

[AnOldUR]

Yeah. Didn't mean to be rude. It was just way too easy.

No, a healthy slurry won't take longer to start fermenting your beer.
Even if it's just shaking, you should consider better aeration.

Other thoughts? In a perfect world you'd wash your yeast and make a starter.

 

[MNHopHead]

I can't say that I wasn't a tad offended; but it was very funny. Nice work AnOldUR

I shook it up when I woke up this morning (cooked last night), I'll shake it some more and let you know how it goes.

Watch out for those senior moments...

 

[AnOldUR]

I shook it up when I woke up this morning (cooked last night), I'll shake it some more and let you know how it goes.

It's best to only aerate before adding your yeast. Check the gravity before shaking it again. If it's dropping at all, leave it alone. You don't want to add O2 once fermentation has begun.

 

[MNHopHead]

I only shook it a couple times yesterday and now I've got fermentation. It's in a bucket so I can't see how tall the krautsen is and it's only a 3.5 gallon batch so there's a lot of headspace in there so the airlock bubbles erratically. But it is bubbling, quite a bit at times. It will be left alone now, and I don't think it'll be necessary to re-picth another post.

 

[Catt22]

It's best to only aerate before adding your yeast. Check the gravity before shaking it again. If it's dropping at all, leave it alone. You don't want to add O2 once fermentation has begun.

Some of the experts recommend adding additional oxygen at the 12-14 hour point after pitching. This is the point where the oxygen is typically approaching depletion. I do this regularly with my lagers and it seems to be beneficial to the ferment, although this is only bases on my casual observation of the process and not anything scientific. It certainly has done no harm that I can detect.

 

[AnOldUR]

Some of the experts recommend adding additional oxygen at the 12-14 hour point after pitching . . .

I've heard of this being done with progressive feeding of really high gravity beers, but not with an average gravity. With a healthy, adequate pitch, I wouldn't have though there'd be any advantage, but new (or new to me) information is always interesting to hear.

 

[Catt22]

I've heard of this being done with progressive feeding of really high gravity beers, but not with an average gravity. With a healthy, adequate pitch, I wouldn't have though there'd be any advantage, but new (or new to me) information is always interesting to hear.

I first came across this method when I read a Zymurgy article long ago written by Jeff Renner (Revival of the Classic American Pilsner. ca 2000), so I guess the benefits can be had for beers of any gravity. The very first time I brewed the CAP using Jeff's recipe and aeration methods it won a gold medal in a major competition and only narrowly missed out on BOS. That was my first attempt at a lager and also my very first competition. BTW, I pitched only a standard smack pack of the Wyeast 2007 Pilsen lager yeast with no starter. The OG was 1.050 and it finished out perfectly.

 

[MNHopHead]

I've heard of that strategy before; once I get a little aquarium pump, I'll begin to do this at least with my higher gravity beers.

How do you add more oxygen?

 

[Catt22]

I've heard of that strategy before; once I get a little aquarium pump, I'll begin to do this at least with my higher gravity beers.

How do you add more oxygen?

I use a SS diffuser stone and pure O2 from a welding cylinder. An air pump will work as well.