48hrs & no visible activity

[SkyDog]

Brewed a batch Sunday and pitched a Wyeast Activator pack. (Which after 3 hrs. showed no signs of swelling) No activity in carboy after 48 hours.

Have to leave town tomorrow AM and am wondering if I should pitch my backup dry yeast or wait?

I will be gone until Sunday so I am afraid if it doesn't start fermenting it will go bad. Is this a valid fear?

I've read the sticky about 24-72 hrs. to start fermenting but I have ALWAYS seen activity within 24 hours.

 

[cercueil]

Is it fermenting in a bucket or a carboy? If its a bucket you can remove the airlock and shine a flashlight down there to see if you see any foam at all. If you see some then I would just put it back on and not worry. I had one that didn't show signs for about 36 hours so you should be ok (unless maybe the yeast was old?)

 

[malkore]

It takes up to 72 hours to see activity. The fact that you didn't make a starter and say the pouch didn't swell...you probably had pretty sad yeast to start with.
I'd leave it til you get back. Assuming you properly sanitized, it should be able to sit for a long time and never spoil.

 

[SkyDog]

Fermenter is a carboy. Best I can tell, there is no activity inside. This picture might show better. There are some small dots of something attached to the walls of the carboy, but absolutely no activity.

 

[StunnedMonkey]

If it was me and I was leaving tomorrow and not returning until Sunday, I'd pitch the dry yeast (assuming that it's a good quality dry yeast) if you have no activity by morning. I think that'd be the lesser mistake than not pitching it and coming home next Sunday and finding that it never took off at all.

 

[SkyDog]

Pitched some dry Munton's Gold into carboy before bed last night. When I got up this morning there was a layer of foam on top.

Looks like I can relax and wait now. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[SkyDog]

Got back home late last night and didn't see signs of a lot more activity but my gravity has fallen from 1.044 at brew time to 1.020 looks like fermentation has started and is progressing slowly.

Took a taste from the wine thief and it tastes OK so I think I am good now. I am becoming less and less of a fan of smack packs.

I suppose I wait and see what happens from here.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Pickngrin]

Glad to hear it took care of itself