Did I ruin my first brew?

[beaSTi07]

I have done a lot of searching and understand it can take 24+hrs before signs of fermentation show, I would like to know if my procedure (which was wrong) could have ruined anything.

I cooled my 4.5 gallons of wort to about 65deg added Fermax yeast nutrient and at 8pm pitched my yeast (1 package Fermentis Safale Dry Ale Yeast) then, realized I forgot to aerate... with my yeast floating on top I vigorously whisked for 20 to 30sec until a nice layer of foam was visible. My primary has been at 68deg +/- 1deg for at least 16 hours and I have zero signs of fermentation starting.

Q1 : I obviously did it wrong, but could I have killed the yeast somehow?

I worked the past two harvests at a winery here in the Napa Valley and have hydrated yeast countless times (BDX or D254). When I compare what happens in the winery in 30min to what "hasn't" happened in my primary in 16+hrs there is a big difference.

Q2 : As far as visible reactions, can I compare hydrating yeast in a winery to pitching yeast in my primary (should it look the same when my primary finally takes off or will there be differences)?

Q3 : Is there anyway to tell if I have an infection this early, or do i have to wait?

I would appreciate any responses even if its to let me know i'm a moron and to search more...

Thanks!

 

[JonK331]

1. I don't see any way you could have killed the yeast. Some folks aerate after adding the yeast anyway.

2. This would depend on pitch rate, yeast viability, temperature, etc. so I'm not sure.

3. No way to tell at this point but it is fairly hard to get an infection so i wouldn't worry.

Overall your procedure sounds okay, just give it some more time. Sometimes it can take up to 48 hours for it to start.

 

[PIGMAN]

Aerating after pitching is fine, don't worry. If everything was sanitized properly, don't worry about infection either. 16 hours is not that long, it is probably fermenting, just not pushing out enough CO2 yet to get the airlock going. If you can, get the ambient temperature lower than 68F, because as the brew ferments, the temperature will rise into the 70s, and possibly cause off flavors. At this stage, that's the only thing you need to do. After the fermentation picks up,(which it will), and then slows down, you can take a gravity reading to see if fermentation is complete. That's really the only sign of fermentation. Start planning your next brew day.

 

[AdamPag]

Yup, remember, the Airlock is meaningless, only your hydrometer tells the truth... Trust in gravity young padawan

 

[BierMuncher]

Next time hydrate your dry yeast at least 3-4 hours in water that has been boiled and then cooled down to luke warm (95-105°F).

This will make a big difference in shortening your lag times.

The concentration of sugars in wort is high enough that the yeast cannot draw enough water across the cell membranes to restart their metabolism.

 

[beaSTi07]

... Trust in gravity young padawan

haha

Thank you all for responding so quickly and calming my nerves!

All of your advice is much appreciated and I will definitely be putting it into practice!

I will let you all know how it turns out in a few weeks.

Thanks again everyone!

 

[AdamPag]

+1 to rehydrate although I only rehydrate for like 15 and give a a gentle stir, my average lag is about 10-12 hours

 

[beaSTi07]

Yeah I definitely will be hydrating yeast for my next brew seems like a really good idea.

 

[AdamPag]

Really, its just gonna decrease your lag a bit

 

[beaSTi07]

Anything that is going to get that beer down the hatch quicker is something I wanna tryout haha!! This is almost as bad as waiting for my weed to dry...

I poped the top off my primary just now to take a peek, got a nice layer of krausen going and about 5 mins after I put the top back on my airlock started going crazy so thats cool to finally see...

 

[jimbot]

True story:

I recently brewed a batch of Saison with an OG of 1.060, and used a 1.8L yeast starter of Wyeast 3711 (French Saison). Got that amount from MrMalty.

Anyway, that was the first time I'd used a starter, so I was really excited to see how fast it would start bubbling. That airlock used to be my means of gauging if anything was going on in there. But 1 day passed--no bubbles. 2 days passed, and I'm starting to sweat. Was my mash messed up? I used Bohemian Floor Malted Pilsner for the first time, and it was cloudier wort than normal. Did I miss my mash temp, was the yeast packet bad, did I do the starter wrong? etc. etc. I kept reciting in my head the mantra: Relax, Don't worry. Have a homebrew.

So 3rd day I cracked it open, put my sanitized hydrometer in there and it was at 1.030. That was the best feeling ever, just to know that it was going. There was also a krausen line. After I saw that measurement I was comfortable, still no bubbles. A couple of days later (7 days since brewing) I measured again and it was at 1.004. STILL NO SIGNS OF BUBBLING!

Now, I'm pretty sure I've got a leak somewhere, so the CO2 is escaping, but not through my airlock. So I want to fix that for next time, but I feel pretty good that this batch is going.

Moral of story: Don't trust the bubbles. Use your science tools to determine what's really happening.