Fermenting trouble

[pmkealiher]

The last 3 beers I've made, I used wyeast smack packs and all 3 beers have had trouble fermenting. I never had any problems with the white labs yeast and made great beer. I'm not doing anything different, so any suggestions on what might be going wrong? I double pitched the porter I made yesterday, and after almost 24 hrs. I have no activity.

 

[Cold Country Brewery]

Don't start worrying until 48 hours has gone by. You smacked the pack and it swelled right? If yes, then it is active yeast. Was the OG high enough to require a starter?

 

[pmkealiher]

It was right at 1.060. I've never done a starter, still not real clear what that is. I've always just pitched the liquid yeast right out of the package. I suppose I should do some more research on making a starter.

 

[Revvy]

What "problems fermenting" are you talking about?

Airlock bubbling? Airlock bubbling means absolutely nothing, some beers never bubble and they turn out fine. An airlock is only a vent, a valve to release excess co2, nothing more, nothing less. It's not a fermentation gauge....a hydrometer is the only fermentation gauge.

1 day is not enough time to even begin to worry....after 72 hours is when you take a gravity reading and see what's going on. It's quite common for yeast to take 2-3 days to get going, it's called lag time.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/fermentation-can-take-24-72-hrs-show-visible-signs-43635/, and by visible signs we don't necessarily mean a bubbling airlock. it means gravity reading

It IS a sticky at the top of the beginners forum for a reason, afterall.


Airlock activity is irrevelent. Just gravity points on a hydrometer.
Airlock bubbling (or lack) and fermentation are not the same thing. You have to separate that from your mindset. Airlock bubbling can be a sign of fermentation, but not a good one, because the airlock will often blip or not blip for various other reasons...so it is a tenuous connection at best.

Fermentation is not always "dynamic," just because you don't SEE anything happening, doesn't mean that any-thing's wrong,, and also doesn't mean that the yeast are still not working diligently away, doing what they've been doing for over 4,000 years.

That's why you need to take a gravity reading to know how your fermentation is going, NOT go by airlocks, or size of krausen, or a calendar, the horoscope or the phases of the moon (those things in my mind are equally accurate).

The most important tool you can use is a hydrometer. It's the only way you will truly know when your beer is ready...airlock bubbles and other things are faulty.

The only way to truly know what is going on in your fermenter is with your hydrometer. Like I said here in my blog, which I encourage you to read, Think evaluation before action you sure as HELL wouldn't want a doctor to start cutting on you unless he used the proper diagnostic instuments like x-rays first, right? You wouldn't want him to just take a look in your eyes briefly and say "I'm cutting into your chest first thing in the morning." You would want them to use the right diagnostic tools before the slice and dice, right? You'd cry malpractice, I would hope, if they didn't say they were sending you for an MRI and other things before going in....


Also It's really a good idea to make starters when using ANY liguid yeast for all beers above 1.020 OG...

The biggest reason I suggest folks make a starter is if you make one you'll have peace of mind. It's especially important if you have questionable situation happenning with your yeast, like not being sure the yeast arrived healthy.

And you won't be starting an "is my yeast dead" thread in a couple of days.

Making a starter first insures that your yeast is still alive and viable before you dump it in your beer. You will be less likely to start one of those "is my yeast dead?" threads that are on here every day.

You will also ensure that you have enough yeast usually the tubes and smack packs are a lot less yeast that you really should use for healthy fermentation.

Making a starter also usually means your beer will take off sooner, because the first thing that the little buggers do in the presence of wort (whether in a flask or in a fermenter) is have an orgy to reproduce enough cells to do the job...So it won't take such a long time in the fermenter since they started doing it in the flask.

So again, I don't think there's anything wrong, except 1) your looking for something inconsequesntial like an airlock bubbling, 2) you're not waiting 72 hours before deciding there's a problem, and 3) Not making a starter with liquid yeast.

So I don't think you really have a problem, except for disrespecting your yeast.

 

[pmkealiher]

Well I certainly don't want to disrespect the yeast. Haha! Like most people (I'm assuming) who start those "is my yeast dead" threads, I'm still pretty new to brewing and not fully educated on the biology of yeast. You're right though; I did panic over the inactivity in my airlock. But that's because every beer I made, up until recently, has had airlock activity only hours after pitching. But that is out of my head now. I certainly appreciate the info, thanks.

 

[badmajon]

How do you oxygenate? Sloshing doesn't work for me. I use an air filter pump kit.

Secondly, use a starter. Go to mrmalty.com and figure out how big of a starter you need.

 

[Mandan]

I had no airlock bubbles recently. Turned out the stopper was loose. My first AG had no activity. LHBS said leave it alone. After 2 weeks it went to 1.012 from an OG of 1.050. It was a great beer. RDWHAHB!

 

[emjay]

I had no airlock bubbles recently. Turned out the stopper was loose. My first AG had no activity. LHBS said leave it alone. After 2 weeks it went to 1.012 from an OG of 1.050. It was a great beer. RDWHAHB!

This is the problem 99% of the time.

Liquid in the airlock adds a bit of pressure. Only about 0.03psi, but even that is enough that, if a small (even invisible to the naked eye sometimes) little gap is present and CO2 can manage to leak through it as quickly as it's being generated, it will go through the atmospheric pressure of the gap instead of the ever-so-slightly higher pressure of the airlock.