Fermenting or not??

[Conno]

I brewed the Sparrowhawk Porter from The Joy of Home Brewing (Charlie Papazian) last Tuesday and totally forgot to take a gravity reading . There was no visible fermentation for three days, no krausen or bubbling in the airlock,no sediment, nothing. Ambient temperature was 64F. Yeast was WhiteLabs Burton Ale yeast.
So on Thursday I placed the fermenting bucket on a propagating heater from a garden nursery and wrapped it in a blanket.
Today Saturday there is still no bubbling but there is a thick layer of eh... something at the bottom of the fermenter .
Gravity is 1.050 at the moment and it tastes like it could be really good in time.

Am I going n the right direction or what?? A little guidance from you guys would be much appreciated.

 

[RICLARK]

What was the O.G. and what was the temp at when you pitched?

 

[Conno]

I don't know the OG, I completly forgot it at the start. And the pitching temp was 77F (25C) a little high but it was 12 midnight and I was up for work at 5.30 so I took a chance and threw it in.

 

[shafferpilot]

There's virtually no way that it could have a final gravity of 1.050..... or anywhere even close to that. it's got 30 to 40 points to lose. Most people say to wait three or four days before calling your yeast dirty names and repitching.

edit: I just did a little research and that brew has an original gravity of about 1.050. sounds like you have no fermentation happening. Did you make this one on December 4, or November 27??

 

[Conno]

December 4th

 

[TheJadedDog]

Sounds to me like your fermentation is having a long lag time. Do not worry, I have had lags of 3-4 days.


The short answer is to wait another 24 hours, if the gravity remains unchanged and there are no signs of fermentation, repitch. Answer the following questions and I can provide you with a more detailed answer:

Did you use dry or liquid yeast? What was your method of preparing the yeast? Did you aerate before pitching?

 

[Conno]

Liquid yeast
No starter used, straight from the vial.
I gave it a good shake, thats all the aeration it got.

The yeast vial had a use by date of the 12th Dec. Only fresh by days.

 

[Orfy]

Time to pitch a dry I think.

 

[Conno]

No more yeast, my nearest home brew store is in Britain....I'm in Ireland. AAAaaarrgghhh.... I really don't want to lose this brew, this was meant for Christmas

 

[Orfy]

The brew shop can post.

In your situation I recommend having some on stock.
The brew may start. If not it will keep if you sanitised well.

 

[malkore]

I'm inclined to think 1.050 is the OG at this point. that yeast sounds like it was dead in the vial.
the stuff in the bottom is just trub/hops and dead yeast..maybe some hot/cold break.

you need to get some yeast on hand in case I'm right and you have to pitch again. this isn't going to be ready for christmas. you kinda broke rule #1: patience.
a porter needs to be bottle aged a few weeks at a bare minimum due to the complex flavors that need to meld together, and that's after at least a week in primary, and a couple weeks in secondary (or long primary) to clear and let the yeast clean it up a bit.

 

[Conno]

It has just started to bubble... does this mean that I'm just dealing with lag time and it should take off from here?? Should I leave the blanket on it?

Thanks to all for your help.

Pretty relieved at the mo

 

[Orfy]

Good news.

Leave it be.

Where do you get you ingredients?

 

[Conno]

Hop and Grape, Darlington in Durham.
Thanks so much for your help. Learnt a lot in the last few hours.
I feel like a bloody alchemist

 

[Orfy]

Hop and Grape, Darlington in Durham.
Thanks so much for your help. Learnt a lot in the last few hours.
I feel like a bloody alchemist

Your are......

Changing one thing into another....It's magic.

 

[TheJadedDog]

Congrats on fermentation taking off.

 

[Conno]

Thanks guys, really...thanks a lot.