Another First Brew Fermentation Question...

[mikezurla]

Fellas,

New to home brewing. Been interested in it for quite some time, and just brewed up my first batch this past weekend. I know everything I've read has said the air lock bubbling is a bad way to judge fermentation (I had no activity in that which sparked my concern). I brewed the Liberty Cream Ale from Midwest Supplies. Starting Gravity: 1.044 (Supposed to be in 1.042-1.046 range). I pitched the dry yeast after rehydrating for 10 min. Since I had no airlock activity, figured I would take a SG reading today. Sanitized everything before hand, and the SG was only 1.040. Having zero experience here, is a drop of 0.004 in SG after 4 days OK? I know the drop in SG at all shows some fermentation has taken place. The room got a little on the cold side the other night, so not sure if this affected it. I think I just want to hear someone tell me everything is going to be alright...

-Z

 

[KevinW]

What temp did you pitch your yeast, how much yeast did you pitch, was the yeast fresh?

A significantly higher or lower temp at pitch can "shock" the yeast which can cause a fairly long lag phase.

Yeast viability can also cause a long lag phase, fresh yeast tends to be more viable.

Quantity of yeast can cause a long lag phase, underpitching can cause yeast to spend too much time multiplying before the active fermention begins.

It generally does not hurt the beer to re-pitch another packet of dry yeast if you are having concerns!

Good luck!

 

[jaysbrewing]

If there is no air lock activity for an ale after about 48-72 hours something wrong has happened in general. You should see it jump up and down a bit. That means that there hasn't been too much fermentation at all as in a tiny bit.

I would shake up the fermentation vessel a bit and see if the yeast just lagged out. If that doesn't help maybe repitching yeast would be your next option.

 

[Balue]

What kind of brew was this? AG, partial, extract? Full boil or partial with top off? How did you hydrate, what temp and what yeast? Seems like it should be lower by now from my experiences. Give us a little more info and take another reading in a day or two. If no movement I would guess dead or killed yeasties and recommend pitching a new pack.

 

[ACbrewer]

OP- that OG change in 4 days woudl concern me. If your wort has been at a pretty consistant 65F or higher, you should pitch new yeast.

Airlock activity should be evident, but might not be for many reasons, the hydro reading was the right thing to do. BTW drink or dump the sample don't bother putting it back, while it is probably ok, why risk it - plus you get to sample . If this is a carboy, is there any sediment?

If the room is too cold, consider putting a 40watt incandecent on in the room.

 

[mikezurla]

Thanks for the input guys.

Kevin, I pitched after getting the wort down to 65F. Took me just about 18 minutes to get it there. I used the US-05 Safale yeast.

Jay, I think I might take your advice and stir up the wort a tad, and also transfer to another room in the house where temps are more consistent.

Figure I'll check SG again this weekend before repitching? Is there an issue with repitching after a week of inactivity?

 

[mikezurla]

ACbrewer, it's in a bucket primary, so I can't tell about the sediment. The temp in the room, based on the thermometer I have in there has been around 63-65, but the other morning it had gotten down to 56-57 range...

 

[mikezurla]

Balue, it was an extract kit, partial boil. I hydrated the yeast in 85F water for about 10 min while cooling the wort down to 65F.

 

[J8D]

I would bring that sucker up to 70 to 75 and if you don't see any activity in the airlock after 24 hours, you should repitch. Once it gets going you can lower it to the ideal fermentation temps (which I am assuming is not 56 to 60). Just double check what the fermentation temperature for that yeast strain is.

 

[henryred]

I prefer just adding dry yeast right to fermenter. Open pack dump and air lock. No issues. No worry of temp shock after rehydrating.

 

[Handsaw]

So - how did it turn out?

 

[BigBlueDog]

US-05 is typically pretty dependable. I've had it ferment out in less than a week, even in the low 60's. If you don't see a SG drop after moving it to a warmer location for a day or so, I'd re-pitch another packet. Wouldn't bother re-hydrating it first.

 

[mikezurla]

Thanks for the help guys. I rushed home during my lunch break and gave the bucket a swirl or two, put it into a more temperature controlled room (holding steady at 70F) and the air lock is starting to bubble, after only 4 hours. Hopefully this will keep up! Thanks again for all the input and advise. This site has some great info and great posters. Looking forward to a long and happy relationship with home brewing. Also, would you say keep it at 70F or try to get it closer to the mid 60s?