Beer won't ferment!

[choff89]

I brewed my 4th batch of beer on Friday. By Monday it hadn't fermented at all (OG was 1.06 and it was still at 1.06).

I got some new American ale yeast and the date on the packet was 05/15. I rehydrated it and pitched. Still at 1.06. The temperature of the wort is 66 degrees.

I rehydrated both packets of yeast following John Palmers directions. What's going on?

 

[rmyurick]

Yeast Probably was already dead, unless you killed it with too-hot water (above 100 or so degreesF) or chemicals. Maybe the yeast wasn't stored properly or was exposed to high temp. during shipping?

 

[brew_darrymore]

I've experienced a 2-3 day lag with US-05 dry yeast. You said you pitched two packets, were they purchased at the same time?

Can you post your recipe?

 

[bubbie1974]

My guess is the lag is due to low Temp. Heat it up a little in a warmer room.

 

[McGarnigle]

Yeast Probably was already dead, unless you killed it with too-hot water (above 100 or so degreesF) or chemicals.

This is the first thing that comes to mind (although you have to go a good bit above 100 to kill the yeast). Or maybe something about storage on your end.

It would be very unusual to get two dud packets.

 

[TopherM]

Did you aerate well?

I started using yeast nutrient in every batch about a year ago, and it has made a HUGE difference. My average lag time is about 12 hours with the nutrient. Get some!

 

[FattyLumpkins]

Start from the start... sanitizing. How did you sanitize? Did you rinse the sanitizer and/or cleanser off your equipment thoroughly? Did you use bleach, SanStar, Iodophor...?
I have had this issue with a finished IPA once and it was trace iodine hung up in the bottles that kept the beer from priming. I think I had something like 5 bottles out of 52 primed. Disappointing, but I had a lot of beer battered EVERYTHING for a while.

 

[flars]

Optimum wort temperature for American Ale Yeast, US-05?, is 66° to 68°F. Rehydration temperature recommended by Fermentis is 77° to 84°F.

The water used to rehydrate dry yeast can affect viability greatly. Distilled water and RO water are not recommended. Using these two types of water can damage the yeast cell walls. Lag time may be increased because of an extended growth phase due to reduced viability. A well aerated wort may diminish the length of the growth phase.

This could be a factor in lack of fermentation, but something else could be going on also.

Are you using a refractometer or hydrometer for SG?

 

[rmyurick]

One nice thing about the Wyeast smack packs is that you know pretty quickly if you have live cells.