Concerns about yeast

[goestoofast]

Hello all.
I'm new to the game, got myself started a few months back with 3 carbouys and all the fixin's. I have made only the Brew House kits so far...porbably about 6 or 7 batches. So far my beer is turning out amazing.

So the guy who runs the home brew shop told me about tweaking these Brew House recipes...adding a bit of this...and a bit of that...to make things a bit more special and not so off the shelf.

So yesterday I mix up one of their IPA batches with a kilo of good old Canadian Maple Syrup...a kilo of Honey...and about 2 cups of sugar.

Anyway I get to the part where it says throw the yeast in...and there is none. The kit didn't have any yeast. So I run down to the closest place that had some (coopers 7 grams brewing yeast) and bought that for a few cents. Came home...pitched...happy happy.

Today I get home after work and check out the bucket expecting to see some serious action...and nothing. No head, no bubbles, same sweet smell...but no signs of fermentation at all.

Its only been about 18 hours since I threw in the yeast...but shouldnt I be seeing some crazy yeast action? Was the yeast dead?

I've kinda been a set it and forget it brewer with the last few kits...but now that I'm sort of getting more interest and tweaking the recipes I'm a bit more concerned.

Any suggestions?

 

[Iseneye]

You didn't mention batch size but I assume it's 5 gallons. You have a lot of adjuncts (non-malt). You would have drastically increased the OG of the original recipe so let's say you now have an OG of 1.09 you would need 17 grams of dry yeast. Since I assume you've under pitched it will take a while to get going. I would suggest pitching more yeast but it may be too late for that.

A suggestion would be to not add ingredients without thought / research. Adding 2.5kg of sugars to a beer kit is not a great idea.

 

[goestoofast]

Hey thanks for your reply. As my username indicates...I'm a do first learn from failure after sort of guy. So I should have doubled the yeast eh? I only added the sugars after the salesman said it shouldn't be a problem. Does't yeast dupliacte like exponetially?

So why would it be too late to pitch again?

 

[Cider123]

What temp are you fermenting at?

 

[goestoofast]

basement varies between 16 - 20 celcius between day and night. Didnt seem to be an issue with all my past brews...I think the first responder hit the nail on the head. 5 gallon kit batches with nust not enough yeast for my added sugars. I just wonder why he said it would be too late to pitch again.

 

[CJ-3]

Does't yeast dupliacte like exponetially?

Yes, yeast does duplicate exponentially, but if you underpitch yeast especially in a beer with such a high projected gravity, you may stress the yeast, which can produce off flavors.

 

[slym2none]

 

[goestoofast]

not sure what any of that meant.

 

[beerkench]

Did you shake the container after adding the yeast? You probably under pitched but it should take off eventually. I've had to wait a couple if days with some of my brews.


Sent from hell
using Home Brew

 

[RM-MN]

18 hours from pitching the yeast is way too early to worry about the lack of evidence of fermentation. Many of my beers take 30 to 36 hours to get rolling. You've given the small amount of yeast a big task and it takes time for them to replicate enough to do that task.

 

[goestoofast]

Well thank you all for your replies...

What does shaking the container do after pitching? And another question I have about the Brew House kit is why does it say not to stir after adding the yeast? Wouldn't a gentle stir be advantageous to the yeast getting started?

Good news...fermentation is happening. I am a bit worried about the first guy who said the yeast might produce off flavours from being stressed by too much sugar. Does that even make sense? Why would they be stressed with too much food?

 

[SmokeyMcBong]

Some reading for you...


http://www.howtobrew.com/intro.html