fermentation has not started

[BOBTHEukBREWER]

I made a malt extract brew yesterday for quickness and pitched the yeast at 20 deg c - new muntons gold yeast hydrated and started with 1 teaspoon brewing sugar in half a pint of water at 23 deg c - the starter was not the most lively I have ever seen but after 3 hours had a one inch "head". 27 hours since pitching - should I add more yeast? Thanks.

 

[Ace_Club]

First give it some more time. If there is no activity after 48 hours, you should probably repitch. That being said, adding more yeast at this point would not harm the beer in any way.

 

[samc]

Adding sugar to a packet of dry yeast for rehydrating is not needed and AFAIK not a good idea. Your not trying to make a starter with dry, just getting it going with as little loss of yeast life as possible.

Without a hydrometer reading how can you know what your wort is doing?

 

[BOBTHEukBREWER]

there is NO activity no head no bubbles - I always make starters with dry yeast as IMHO some packets of dry yeast are "dead", I would sooner know before adding to wort.

 

[BOBTHEukBREWER]

the refractometer reading for the wort was 11.0 by the way so it is not a strong beer.

 

[Ace_Club]

If you are really concerned, pitch another package of dry yeast, though this time just rehydrate in some warm water for 15 minutes (no sugar). Dry yeast is cheap enough that that is one of the benefits of using it...

 

[BOBTHEukBREWER]

I rehydrated another packet for 20 minutes then added a little brewing sugar, after 30 minutes a 2 inch meringue like head. Added at 6 pm yesterday, and now this morning fermentation is proceeding normally. Next brew I use half a packet of dried yeast, and providing it "starts" well that is all I will add. I figure that if yeast cells divide every 20 minutes or so, it does not matter if you start with 500 million or 250 million, the steady state will be reached 20 minutes late - smiles...

 

[Ace_Club]

Just to reiterate:

1. There is no need to add brewing sugar (corn sugar?) to dry yeast when rehydrating. Just plain ol' water is fine. 15 minutes of rehydration, then add to cooled wort.

2. Just add the full package. The cell count on an 11g package of dry yeast is good for 5 gallons of normal gravity wort. The packages of dry yeast are cheap enough that there really isn't a good reason to cut it in half and make the yeast do that extra step.

In the end though, it's your beer, and if you are pleased with the results, then that's all there is to that. We'll still be here to try and help.