Ferment didn't start

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Kristopher

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2016
Messages
50
Reaction score
1
Added yeast about 36 hours ago to a steeping/extract kit, still nothing.

not sure if temp is wrong or what, the room is the same temp, (around 19C) that I have made several other kits in. Perhaps the yeast was bad. We only have a wine shop in town, so my question is can I use wine yeast? If not, how long can the wort sit until I get my hands on more beer yeast?
 
No, you don't want to use wine yeast. This is a perfect example of why I always keep extra yeast on hand, and always rehydrate dry yeast. If it foams up, it's good.
 
Did you call the wine place to see what they have? Maybe they keep a few packs of beer yeast around anyway.
 
At only 36 hours you are still 36 hours away from when you should take any action. Do not use wine yeast. I would order some dry yeast to have on hand for this reason.

How long you can go before pitching more yeast is not an easy thing. It could be a long time or contaminants could already be in the wort. Yeast can often out compete contaminates. ASAP is the answer. But again wait at least another day.

How are you determining that nothing is happening? If you are looking for bubbles in the airlock it might not happen for a variety of reasons.

1) look for krausen. (foam layer on top)
2) take a gravity reading. Assuming you took one before pitching they yeast, if you take another and the number is lower it is fermenting.
 
Added yeast about 36 hours ago to a steeping/extract kit, still nothing.

not sure if temp is wrong or what, the room is the same temp, (around 19C) that I have made several other kits in. Perhaps the yeast was bad. We only have a wine shop in town, so my question is can I use wine yeast? If not, how long can the wort sit until I get my hands on more beer yeast?

What was the strain of yeast used? You see no visible signs of a krausen beginning to form? If this is a bucket look through the air lock bung rather than opening the lid. Might have to hold a flashlight to the side to get a good look inside.
 
It was a Nottingham yeast. Not exactly sure of strain.
I popped the cover a couple times. Very few bubbles, no krausen.
LHBS did have beer yeast. Should I wait another day? This evening will be 48 hrs.
If I do add more yeast, what should my temps be of both wort and hydrated yeast?
 
It was a Nottingham yeast. Not exactly sure of strain.
I popped the cover a couple times. Very few bubbles, no krausen.
LHBS did have beer yeast. Should I wait another day? This evening will be 48 hrs.
If I do add more yeast, what should my temps be of both wort and hydrated yeast?

First off, you are probably overreacting and the yeast is probably working just fine. That said, if your nervous, pitching a bit more yeast is fine.
 
While most of my brews kick off in less than 24 hours, my personal record is 84 hours before signs of fermentation. All those posts that say wait 72 hours before worrying are legit. That said, if you want to throw a pack of US-05 on it, it won't hurt it.
 
It has now started. I checked it this morning, the cover is bulging. (I have an airline into a jug of sanitizer). I couldn't resist, I cracked the cover and had a look, lots of krausen.

I did wrap it in blankets yesterday, this brought it up a degree or 2 Celsius. I wonder if this was the culprit.
 
Still plenty of bubbles on top, but I haven't seen any bubbling or burping in blow off jug for a few days now. It's been about 10 days, safe to move to secondary even though still bubbles on top?
 
Don't worry about secondary. It's really not necessary unless you need your fermenter for another brew. Otherwise, just leave it in primary until you get stable FG for 3 days. Then you're good to bottle/keg.
 
Back
Top