Failed/slow fermentation pumpkin ale

[Jeremy123]

Hi, so I'm working on my 6th batch, first 5 went perfectly turned out amazing, all extract brews this one included. This one is the pumpkin ale from midwest, i put in a few cans of pureed pumpkin, the brew went great, everything normal, I hydrated the dry Muntons 6 gram yeast, poured the wort into the fermenter, added the yeast, shook the crap out of the fermenter (simple method but it's always worked fine for every batch) and put it into my fermentation chamber where it holds at 68 degrees.

I did not take a hydrometer reading.

That was 8 days ago, I waited 3 full days with zero sign of fermentation, no krausen on top, no bubbling fermenter, no swirling motion inside.
So after 3 days I pitched a pack of safale us-05. After a day I saw some fermentation, but I would definitely classify it as "slow", I counted about 12-16 bubbles/minute over the course of a few days, but no swirling or motion inside the beer which I've seen on every other batch, and a thin patchy layer of krausen.

So all that leads to my question, is this going to a crappy weak beer? Is there anything I can do to amp up the fermentation? Again, no gravity readings. I've never worried about it before because it just added steps and I was using ingredient kits so I was pretty sure what I was getting anyway.

Any help would be great thanks!

 

[Demus]

No one can really help you without gravity readings. You've just learned why they are taken. Even if everything goes fine in a brew, without that info you are short changing yourself the opportunity to learn. It's like taking a test but not seeing what grade you got. How can you learn?

 

[Jeremy123]

Yup, just didn't bother since it only added risk of contamination and wasted beer.

Took one just now, (8 days after first pitch, 5 days after 2nd pitch) and the reading was 1.040. SG was supposed to be 1.042-1.046 according to the kit. So is this a massive bummer or is there something I can do?

 

[insanim8er]

Yup, just didn't bother since it only added risk of contamination and wasted beer.

Took one just now, (8 days after first pitch, 5 days after 2nd pitch) and the reading was 1.040. SG was supposed to be 1.042-1.046 according to the kit. So is this a massive bummer or is there something I can do?

What temp are you at? Try warming it up if it's too cold. You could be fermenting if your OG was at .046 and now it's 2 days at .040. Probably took time to get going...

But now you know... Being stingy on the beer can waste a whole lot more than 4oz.... Or get a refractometer.

 

[Jeremy123]

I'm at 68 degrees. I just bumped it up to around 70-71. I guess ill just check in a couple days to see if the gravity is the same?