Fermentation can take 24 to 72 hrs to show visible signs.

[qvantamon]

So, I chilled down to high 70s (ambient temperature where the smack pack was sitting for 3 days), aerated the hell out of it (used one of those hose-tip aerator thingies, then shaked the hell out of it). 24 hours later, and the wort is clear as day, no sign of foam or airlock activity. I read Revvy's tip on the sticky, about shaking the wort a bit, stirring the trub, and 10 minutes later the top was bubbly - in 2 hours it got a nice 1/2 inch krausen.

This was a 7-month old pack (that refused to inflate on the first day, forcing me to pitch dry yeast on that batch, and then 2 days later was round as a balloon, so I made another batch just for it), so some delay was expected... but I wonder - is it possible that the yeast just flocculated right down when pitched, and then got buried under the trub (especially since it was already active on the pack for 3 days, which is normally when it starts floccing)? That could account for some differences people report when pitching liquid vs. dry yeast - dry yeast (esp. sprinkled directly) seems to take a while floating and dissolving, enough for the trub to settle down first. If the liquid yeast is already ready to flocculate, maybe it'd go down right away, and be buried under the trub.

Maybe if direct-pitching liquid (without a starter, for whatever reason) it's a good idea to wait a few minutes for the trub to set in the fermenter before pitching? I guess 15 minutes without pitching beats 24 hours without fermentation... Or maybe give it a vigorous stir at 1-2 hours after pitching?

 

[dustinp]

This is my first post and my first week on this site. I've been with the brewing "hobby" for about a year now and for some reason did not know anything about this site until now. I am very glad I fell into it!! I am into just brewing kits right now and have brewed about 5 total. I love the "hobby" so much I have got the okay from my wife to go ahead with kegging!!! I think I am going to go with KegConnection.com with this voyage. It seems the price is right and now until Monday everything is 10% off!! Any advise with this would be appreciated. 2 keg refrigerator setup with a dual body regulator is what I am aiming for. Hopefully I can get the pressures correct. It seems like that is a big deal!

Anyway, not to get too carried away, I want to thank everybody that posted to the "fermentation can take 24-72 hrs." sticky. It took me quite some time but I read through almost all 30 pages! I haven't had a scare for any of the 5 brews until now, my 6th brew kit. I have one of those cool drill stick aeraters that I feel get the wort aerated pretty well before yeast. Also, have only done a mix of either sprinkle the dry on top of the wort or rehydrate the dry with warm water. I have not gotten into the liquid or smack pack yeast yet. This kit was a 5 gallon batch of Honey Weizen complete with 11 grams of Munich yeast. I re-hydrated it with warm water and pitched it when the wort was about 70 degrees. After 48 hours with no airlock activity and a bit of worrying, I found this sticky. After reading all of the comments and advise, I decided to wait it out. After 96 hours of no activity in the airlock, I decided to open the lid and take a look, hoping that the gas was escaping from a bad seal somewhere. Unfortunately there was no signs of krausen or any signs of fermentation at all. Instead of panicking and pitching more yeast, I decided to put the lid back on and shake the heck out of it to try to wake the yeast up if possible. Well, 24 hours after the shake, there is a bubble about every 10 seconds. 30 hours after shaking the airlock was going crazy!!! This may not be the perfect situation, but it worked and worked without pitching more yeast. Once again, thanks all for the comments and advise. I am excited to get this Honey Weizen into the secondary and then into my new kegging system!!!!! Hopefully this post will help someone else out that is in the same situation!!

 

[TURBOANSARI]

I am brewing malt liquor. Because of the amount of corn sugars I am using, I was told to keep fermentation temperatures on the low side to avoid estery flavors. I used Danstar Nottingham powdered yeast and my aeration technique was to dump 2 gallons of wart into 3 gallons of water where grains were steeped previously from several feet above. I figure since the 3 gallons of water never boiled, there would still be plenty of o2 disolved within. I dumped the yeast package onto the surface of the wort and sealed it up. The little fellas havent started about 15 hours, but i am keeping the fermenter in my chest freezer at 60 degrees.

I am confident that the yeast will start. If they dont, I know i can put my electric blanket around the bucket and within 8 hours the yeast will start running the gunshot.

Obviously the challenge is to avoid off flavors with low enough temps but not so low so that i can quickly process all that sugar into delicious intoxicants. How long would you wait to see some action before trying to raise the temps?

 

[kenstogie]

Brewing a Morebeer's Scottish Export 80/- (Extract) kit and pitched the yeast on NOV 30, the OG was 1.060 (way higher than the kit said it should be) and the Airlock bubbled like a madman for 4 days.

Now over 2 weeks later, it's still bubbling, very slowly but still bubbling. Is this normal???

 

[Revvy]

Brewing a Morebeer's Scottish Export 80/- (Extract) kit and pitched the yeast on NOV 30, the OG was 1.060 (way higher than the kit said it should be) and the Airlock bubbled like a madman for 4 days.

Now over 2 weeks later, it's still bubbling, very slowly but still bubbling. Is this normal???

Normal is a hard thing to define with living micro-organisms....

Rather than speculate as to what is happening the only sure way to know what's going on is to take a gravity reading.

 

[kenstogie]

Normal is a hard thing to define with living micro-organisms....

Rather than speculate as to what is happening the only sure way to know what's going on is to take a gravity reading.

Could be me but reading my hydrometer seems imprecise. Determing the plane of the wort in the bucket with foam, krause , and the elasticity of the wort makes it only close but at least it give you an idea. Then to ascertain a dicernable change seems iffy. JMHO as I have limited experience brewing.

I gererally try very hard to NOT OPEN my fermenting bucket until bottling to prevent contamination. I may have to bite the bullet and do it any way but I would think that if it is still bubbling and presumably producing Co2 then it is still fermenting.

If I leave it in bucket until New Years then do my gravity checks it'll be fine.

I have only brewed 12-5 gallon batches but typically my fermentation is done with in a week in the same exact conditions.

Feel free to correct any of my thoughts as I said I only have limited experience. I love brewing because it slightly scientific, alot of fun and you get to enjoy your results.

 

[Revvy]

I gererally try very hard to NOT OPEN my fermenting bucket until bottling to prevent contamination. I may have to bite the bullet and do it any way but I would think that if it is still bubbling and presumably producing Co2 then it is still fermenting.

Bubbling as said in this thread repeatedly is not accurate and overrated as a gauge, plenty of batches including half of mine, have fermented just fine, with no one blip of an airlock, spread over 9 different fermenters and several years.

If there were such a risk with takiing a hydromter reading then why do you think every book, video, and forum advocates using your hydrometer?

You know, there is so much telling brewers, what not to do do you actually think folks would be saying to use your hydrometer so much? Is it a vast conspiracy to ruin millions of new brewer's batches, so that they flee the hobby and give it a bad rap?

Using basic sanitization, taking a hydrometer reading is no risk at all.

This is what I use, and it works with both buckets and carboys

And

Here's what I do....

1) With a spray bottle filled with starsan I spray the lid of my bucket, or the mouth of the carboy, including the bung. Then I spray my turkey baster inside and out with sanitize (or dunking it in a container of sanitizer).

2) Open fermenter.

3) Draw Sample

4) fill sample jar (usualy 2-3 turky baster draws

5)Spray bung or lid with sanitizer again

6) Close lid or bung

6) take reading

It is less than 30 seconds from the time the lid is removed until it is closed again.

Probably less if you have help.

And unless a bird swoops down and poops in your fermenter, you wont have any trouble.

 

[smarek82]

My first attempt at a lager since it is colder in the basement. Temp fluctuates 50F-54F. OG was 1.056 pitched Wyeast american lager. Problem was the smack pack never swelled up after 7 hours so I pitched anyway. I am at 48 hrs and from reading this thread I still have another day to wait. Is there lag in showing sign of fermentation because the pack didn't swell? Or do lagers, without a starter (I know bad brewing practice), take longer because of the colder temps? Thanks

 

[smarek82]

Even though there wasn't a reply to my previous msg I will provide an update. I let everything go for 1 week and took a specific gravity measurement and to my dismay i was still at my OG(1.056). Either way I was not so willing to give up quick. I have been pretty good at giving it a vigorous shake every day or two. Low and behold, today (3 days after I checked my gravity), I had some action in the airlock!!! I still do not think this beer is going to reach my anticipated FG of 1.011, but we'll see what happens. I will let it sit for about another 2 weeks with some intermittent shaking to keep the yeast awake and living, then take another measurement.

If anyone following this thread has any advice to still give it would be much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[XXguy]

I've had lager smack packs that took 3 days to swell..... at room temp. Lagers tend to be more slow starting than ales, but slow doesn't mean it's not working or not going to finish strong. Keep the faith.

Just for future reference - most lagers need a massive starter for 5 + gallons. You can check www.mrmalty.com for exact rates for your scenario, but most lagers would require 4 smack packs if you don't do a starter.

I'd say your yeast has just been taking its time building up enough resources to do the job.

 

[jiggerachi]

Thought my experience was releveant to this thread so i'll post it here.

I brewed my 3rd batch saturday, a Franziskaner Heffeweisen clone. Parshial mash with the white labs liquid yeast. My other two, a Hoegarden clone and a stout, were done partial mash, but with the grain bag method. 1st batch, the Hoegarden clone came out ok, some funky off flavors in a few of the beers but most of them were surprisingly pretty good. The stout is still fermenting but tasted a hydrometer sample and it seems good. Anyway I was very excited because this was going to be my first serious batch. I read everything I could for the last month preparing for this one, bought a huge 7 gallon boiler and built my own mash/lauder tun from a cooler, this one was going to be awesome. Only problem...the ingredients had been sitting in my fridge and cabinet for over 6 to 8 months (long story), and since i've never brewed with liquid yeast I didn't realize until it was too late that the yeast had expired. I tried to throw together a starter (after feverishly googling) which failed terribly. I just said oh well and threw it in anyway, it was too far to turn back.

After about 42 hours of nervous waiting I saw no activity in the bucket. I was panicking about to buy more yeast to repitch, but after reading this thread I took a cool approach and gathered a hydrometer sample. I noticed a small head on the surface which was a good sign, but very small could have been anything. The reading was a tiny bit lower so it was working...a little bit, I hoped. Was still too close to call, we had been drinking for awhile when we took the OG reading so I was still unsure if it was accurate. Tasted the sample and it was definitley a little fizzy so I was somewhat assured, but still nervous.

Followed what I read here I gave it a good shake and the bucket immediately foamed like crazy, foam got in the airlock and leaked all over the outside of the bucket. I cleaned it up and refilled the airlock and went to bed. Next morning im getting 2 to 3 bubbles per second, and the entire room smells very strongly like bananas. :rockin:

So yea, take it from a worried beginner just like yourselves. Just wait. it's pretty hard to screw this process up, the yeast really do know what to do, just sometimes need a kick in the pants to wake them up.

 

[cmoon]

Just wanted to chime in. I started my third batch in this weekend (counting Mr. Beer *sighs*) and was pretty nervous since I was following a 90 min IPA clone recipe. With higher alcohol content I did a yeast starter and actually 'double pitched', putting the yeast starter underneath and pouring a new smackpack of the same yeast on top of the wort. Only on the 3rd day did I finally get some confirmation that fermentation was definitely underway. I'm elated now, but those three days had me pretty stressed out.

 

[breakonthru]

I started my first batch on friday..started bubbling 24 hrs later which was great but 2 days later it stopped...should i worry?

 

[boog321]

I started my first batch on friday..started bubbling 24 hrs later which was great but 2 days later it stopped...should i worry?

Nah, depending on the ingredients it could slow way down, but still be fermenting.

Hang tight, and let it go it's time, and I would bet all will be cool! I'm on my 3rd batch, and they will slow way down 2-5 days in.

 

[breakonthru]

How long do you think i should wait till i test it?

 

[boog321]

How long do you think i should wait till i test it?

It seems that most around here let it go in the primary 2-4 weeks. I plan on letting the batch I started last night go at least 3 if it clears, and quite possibly 4.

So, I would say no less than 2 weeks.

But like I said, I'm only on my 3rd batch, still learning, and experimenting a bit. Others are much more experienced around here.

 

[mclane2003]

Just wanted to reiterate that patience is often key. Just had a Wheat beer take about 40 hours before it started showing visible signs of fermentation.

My brew cycle is typically 2 weeks in the primary, 2 weeks in the secondary, 3 weeks in the bottle. This allows me to brew every other weekend and it produces pretty good beer.

 

[Yevmeister]

quick question to the pros

so friday night i made my first batch
i was little clumsy since i did it first time, i added yeast, when i put a cover on the fermenter, and i tried to stick airlock, the rubber isolating ring fell through.

so i emptied wort into the sanitized kettle, fished out that rubber ring put it in place, dumped all the wort back into fermenter bucket

so yesterday it was bubbling like crazy, and now it seems that fermentation process is slowing down i get a bubble every minute or so

a my doing okay?

thanks,

Yev

 

[Orfy]

a my doing okay?

thanks,

Yev

Sounds like a typical first batch to me. Infact this was the first question asked by one of our very experienced mods.

 

[Yevmeister]

thanks, we'll see what happens

Yev

 

[Lep]

I've got a batch that's already been in primary for eleven days, it was going before, not fast, but going and I saw yeast globs at the top of the brew. I've just gone and checked it and there was a lot of activity, but the yeast still looks normal. I recognise this is probably a "OMG is my beer ok?" and the responses will be "Your beer is ok", but is it normal to have significant activity this late?

 

[lady_brewer]

What are you gauging as activity? Have you taken a hydro sample? What has the temperature in the area been like?

I am by no means a knowledgeable party, but I am curious if your fermentation may have slowed and then started up again at a later point. Or you may have agitated the fermenter and now some more of the CO2 that was suspended in the beer is bubbling off.

(And no I would not worry, but I would wait to bottle, checking hydro readings to be sure fermentation has completed)

 

[Lep]

What are you gauging as activity? Have you taken a hydro sample? What has the temperature in the area been like?

I am by no means a knowledgeable party, but I am curious if your fermentation may have slowed and then started up again at a later point. Or you may have agitated the fermenter and now some more of the CO2 that was suspended in the beer is bubbling off.

(And no I would not worry, but I would wait to bottle, checking hydro readings to be sure fermentation has completed)

It's built up krausen and is bubbling (not airlocked), I haven't agitated it or moved it at all. I guess it was probably just on the cool end of things probably and woke back up. I wasn't going to be bottling for a little while yet and not wanting to disturb the beer, I haven't taken a hydro sample (was going to take those later on).

 

[Shearn]

I've been reading through this thread for about an hour now and have been reassured that everything is going just fine, many times over. Cheers to all of you knowledgeable and patient brewers out there.

Fermentation is visibly underway on my 2nd 5-gal batch. I've been following instructions from ingredient kits so far. I keep hearing that it's important to aerate the wort before pitching the yeast. (I have not been doing this) What is the best way to do this? I gave mine a stir when I pitched the yeast. (Like I said, fermentation went along as expected, I'm just trying to use the best methods possible)

Also, when is it okay to open the lid and take a gravity reading? Am I at risk of ruining my beer if I open the lid too much during fermentation? And how often do you check gravity?

 

[arundel]

Hello,people. This is my first post here. Lots of great info. I sat here the other day and read the first 25 pages from this thread while anxiously awaiting my Cooper's kit. Anyway, it showed up yesterday and I wasted no time getting my first brew up and going.

I'm right at 25 hours into primary and have a large crust of foam on top of the wort and my airlock is bubbling. I'm actually kind of paranoid about infection, even though I sanitized well.

Ok, to my question:

The primary container has a tap, which seems to be pretty handy, but the instructions say to draw hydrometer samples from the tap. If I do this, is it going to leave residue that could infect my beer when I eventually get to the bottling phase? Is it safer to open the container and break through the krausen to obtain a sample, or just use the tap?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[lady_brewer]

Well... the buckets with a tap are often considered to be bottling buckets... I have no idea about pouring a sample off through the tap... but my opinion would be...

When you get to the bottling stage (the kit probably says 5-6 days... I would wait at least 10, and 21 would be much better) - transfer into a second container to mix in your priming sugar... this seperates your beer from the trub (yeast and the like) that will be in the bottom of your primary. You can take a sample for testing from what goes into the bottling bucket.

I gave up taking hydros for my pre-hopped kits. I leave them in primary long enough to know that fermentation is complete, and I don't mess with the kits in any way that makes me even curious about the abv... if I cared I would probably just take the numbers that the kit provides.

I know this doesn't really answer your question... but my advice is to keep it simple early on, relax, don't worry...

 

[arundel]

Thanks for the response, LB. I thinks you're right. I don't really need an FG until I get ready to bottle anyway, so I'll just wait and do it then, just to be on the safe side.
Oh, my kit came with priming sugar in individual drops that go in the bottles. So I can bottle straight out of the fermenter on this first batch. Kinda seems nasty to me, so Ill probably get another primary container and use this one for a secondary in the future.

 

[RyanN]

I'm at 72 hours plus and have no fermentation happening. This morning I tried swirling the wort gently, 12 hours later, nothing. I thought maybe I missed fermentation so I checked with the hydrometer, nothings happening, hydro reading is the same as it was when the wort was put in the bucket. I aerated this wort more than any batch before (poured back and forth between pot and bucket), added the yeast, stirred and covered. The wort was 70 degrees when the yeast was added. The yeast was Danstar Munich and it was rehydrated. Wort was kept in the basement at 65 degrees. Initial hydro reading was 1.051 as it is today. The kit was http://www.ldcarlson.com/public catalog/Brewers Best Recipes/1030_Weizenbier.pdf

So far I've moved the wort to a warmer room.....within the past few hours. I also stirred it up a bit (nicely) when I took the hydro reading.

Any thoughts? I don't have any of that strain of yeast, I do have Safale US-05 which I'm guessing wouldn't be great to use in this case.

Thanks for any help!

 

[RyanN]

Still have nothing happening, I'm beginning to think the yeast was bad. I'm going to give it until the end of today, if nothings happening my options are to pitch US-05 or it's going down the drain. Any opinions?

 

[NickN72]

I'm having the exact same situation right now. I got some of the same yeast from NB and pitched it on Saturday morning. I went to the local shop and picked up some WB-06 tonight to repitch and when i came home and pulled the top off the bucket i had bubbles. That means it took almost 100 hours to start anything. I'm hoping its fermentation and not infection from me having to check on it so much. I'm going to let mine go, so i guess what i'm saying is give I would it a little more time. I don't know if this might be a problem similar to what they had with the Nottingham, but mine seems to be going now. I guess i'll just have to make another hefe to use the new yeast.