Fermentation problems? Yeast dead?

[TravelingLight]

I finally brewed my first beer this weekend. Did an extract IPA. Recipe:


Extract:
6.5# Light LME
1.5# Wheat DME
1# Corn sugar

Hops: [all pellet]
1 oz. Warrior [60 min]
0.5 oz. Citra [15 min]
0.5 oz. Cascade [15 min]
0.5 oz. Centennial [15 min]
1 oz. Citra [Flameout]
0.5 oz. Cascade [Flameout]
0.5 oz. Centennial [Flameout]
0.5 oz. Citra [Hopstand (when wort ~180)]
0.5 oz. Cascade [Hopstand (when wort ~180)]
0.5 oz. Centennial [Hopstand (when wort ~180)]

(dry hop schedule omitted)

I was brewing with a buddy who is a long time all grain brewer to help me out and use some of his equipment. We got the wort cooled with his chiller. Pitched the yeast (Safale US-05). OG was right about 1.060. Due to the head space and what not I decided to go ahead and put a blow off on instead of the airlock. So I got my tube sanitized, pushed it in the airlock hole, and ran the other end into a water bottle with star san. That was Saturday night. So it's been over 48 hours. I'm not seeing much activity. I don't know how accurate the temp strips are on buckets but mine says about 66. How much "activity" should I see? Like I see a few liquid drops in the tubing but I haven't witnessed any active bubbling in the bottle where the tube goes. Should I be concerned? Or is there anything else I should be doing? I'm tempted to remove the blow off and put the airlock on but I don't want to disturb it more than I have to. Any advice would be great. Don't want my first beer to be a failure! Thanks.

 

[jlinz]

Are you fermenting in a bucket? Sometimes they are not airtight and there is no visible sign of fermentation. If you are truly worried you can open the lid and see if you see anything going on, but it is a risk. My guess is that its fermenting and co2 is escaping somewhere.

 

[TravelingLight]

Are you fermenting in a bucket? Sometimes they are not airtight and there is no visible sign of fermentation. If you are truly worried you can open the lid and see if you see anything going on, but it is a risk. My guess is that its fermenting and co2 is escaping somewhere.

Thanks for the heads up. Yep, using a bucket. It's not ideal, but I got it for free and was ready to brew. If I do a secondary, I'll do that in glass for sure.

 

[unionrdr]

Try using a flashlight to shine some light into the bucket. If you see a dark ring around the inside at the top of the liquid level, it's fermenting. That'd be the krausen ring I sometimes refer to as, " ring around the collar".

 

[jlinz]

Thanks for the heads up. Yep, using a bucket. It's not ideal, but I got it for free and was ready to brew. If I do a secondary, I'll do that in glass for sure.

No problem. Careful with glass. I had a friend break one and send 10 gallons of worth across the floor of his apartment. Luckily he wasn't holding it at the time. I've been using plastic carboys ever since.

 

[TravelingLight]

Try using a flashlight to shine some light into the bucket. If you see a dark ring around the inside at the top of the liquid level, it's fermenting. That'd be the krausen ring I sometimes refer to as, " ring around the collar".

Great advice. I will try this tonight when I get home from work. Thanks.

 

[seabrew8]

Open the lid if you need to see if there is any foam on top. If so your good. I done about a half dozen open bucket brews - the last 6 months - with no problems. I believe all the O2 exposure dogma is just that - within reason of course. Quickly opening the lid will be fine.

 

[ArthurDigbySellers]

I had the exact thing happen to me with the last beer I fermented a few weeks ago. The blow-off tube was producing no bubbles at all. Pulled the stopper out and saw plenty of krausen in the bucket so I cranked the lid down harder and put the blow-off back in. It instantly started bubbling like crazy. As others have said, you are losing CO2 from the lid somewhere.

 

[kombat]

US-05 sprinkled dry?

If so, then you underpitched considerably. It will still ferment, and will most likely taste fine (as long as you watch those temperatures and keep it between 62 - 68° F), they just need some time to build up their numbers and get to work.

Next time, pitch 2 packets, or rehydrate the packet according to the manufacturer's instructions. It's not difficult, and will make a big difference in your fermentations.

 

[TravelingLight]

US-05 sprinkled dry?

If so, then you underpitched considerably. It will still ferment, and will most likely taste fine (as long as you watch those temperatures and keep it between 62 - 68° F), they just need some time to build up their numbers and get to work.

Next time, pitch 2 packets, or rehydrate the packet according to the manufacturer's instructions. It's not difficult, and will make a big difference in your fermentations.

SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIT. Yep. Pitched dry. Oh well, lesson learned! Thanks.

 

[TravelingLight]

Welp! I'm happy to report all is well. I got home this evening, popped the blow off tube off and saw plenty of foam (krausen?) and it made that "pssssssss" noise when I pulled it out (that's what she said?). So I popped in a sanitized air lock and it immediately started bubbling like a fat baby farting in a bathtub. Makes me feel a lot better. I was already getting worried I had crapped the bed on my first beer. Thanks for all the solid advice.