Chamomile Inhibition of Yeast Growth

[mdennytoo]

Can chamomile inhibit the growth and fermentation of yeast?

I made a beautiful garnet colored wort and now it is not fermenting.

10lbs Pale Ale malt
8 oz. Caramel 60
3 oz. Caramel 80
1 oz. Carafa III Special
0.75 oz. Perle Hop @70 min
4 oz. Chamomile flowers (with short stems) from herbalcom.com
(chamomile steeped/ stirred after flame out from 200f down to 180f, chilled after that)


First attempt 2 vials San Francisco Lager yeast @60f no activity from blowoff tube. Day 1
Second attempt 1 packet re-hydrated Safale W34/70 @57f no activity from blowoff tube, but there is a 1mm foam lacing across the top. Day 3

4 oz. is more than most people use. When I make the tea in a french press, I use 1/2 an oz. per quart, and I would like it stronger, so I thought 4 oz. wouldn't be too much. If this doesn't ferment, on my next attempt I will dilute the finished beer with chamomile tea from the french press. Also, I will process off the flower buds and just use the yellow caps next time, because I could feel some tannin tasting the wort after boiling.

Herbalists use it for Candida albicans infections in people. Candida and Saccharomyces cerevisiae are related a little bit?

Has anyone else had no or slow fermentation with Chamomile?

 

[passedpawn]

No.

I used 4 oz in this beer, no problem at all. I added at beginning of boil, though. Mine was a 10g batch, also. So there are some differences there.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=191443

 

[K2brewfisher]

I have used chamomile around those quantities before and never had an issue. it is often used in wheat beers and I have never heard of anybody having issues. Personally I haven't had great luck with w34 but the 2 times I used it I found it fermented better at 64ish degrees. try different things since I don't have much to lose. Just make sure u purge your fermenter with a little co2 or n2 if u open it to the air

 

[Revvy]

I see you talking about "Blowoff tube activity" but no mention of gravity reading...during this time did you ever actually take a reading to see what fermentation was actually occuring... Just because you're not getting bubbling of EXCESS co2 doesn't mean it's not fermenting, or doesn't mean the co2 is getting out elsewhere. You pitched a lot of yeast, it's highly doubtful it's actually not fermenting...

You also said there's "foam" on top.... which is probably krausen, meaning you HAVE fermentation....

More than likely the issue isn't that it's not fermenting, it's just that you're using something faulty, i.e. bubbling in a blowoff tube, as a fermentation gauge instead of a vent. And not using the actual diagnostic tool that your hydrometer reading is, and even ignoring what sounds like krausen.

Check gravity, not bubbles....

 

[mdennytoo]

It has started now. I have give the same advice to bucket brewers, because you can have leaks. My gravity was 1.058 to begin with, but I didn't wine thief it after trying the second yeast. I don't remember ever having that many days lag.