How did I break my fermentation?

[KiwiSander]

Hi all,

I have a question. Some time ago I bought an Apollo all rounder fermenter. II now have 3 brews in this fermenter and have not had any luck. The first one was one of those brew days where everything went wrong, so when the ferment didn't really start I just chalked it up to that. The second brew went well, no issues, but also no real fermentation. I then hydrated another yeast packet, pitched that as well, got some fermentation but it stalled early. This time I thought about my process, and realised that I didn't really aerate well.

Today's brew went well. I brewed a Blonde Ale, OG 1.050 (expected 1.048), temp was 21.8 when it went into the fermenter. I gave it a good shot of oxygen through a diffusion stone. I also made a yeast starter with my US-05, but this was only on the stirplate for about 2 hours, so probably more hydrated than a real starter. Either way, my pitch rate is 1 packet of 11g of US-05 into 20l, this should be just about right. The idea is to ferment under pressure, generally I aim for about 5psi, mostly just to keep O2 out. So far it has not built up any pressure.

I have since kept it at 22C - 22.5C, but there is no sign of fermentation. Now this may just be a case of wait longer and I won't actually panic before another day at least, but I expected to see some activity by now.

Am I too impatient? Anything specific in my process I should suspect? I mean, fermentation has happened in less ideal conditions for thousands of years, how did I manage to break it?

Thanks!
Sander

 

[AlexKay]

Dry yeast usually takes some time to get going. You shouldn’t expect to see anything for at least 24 hours; 48 hours before any sign of fermentation is definitely possible. I wouldn’t start meddling with things — opening the fermenter to take a gravity reading, thinking about pitching more yeast — until at least 72.

Also, the only reliable method to tell you if fermentation is going on is that gravity reading. If you see bubbles/pressure/krausen, that’s great, but only the gravity reading is diagnostic.

You seem like the kind of brewer that would really like a Tilt, if you wanted to spring for one. (Or a Rapt Pill; I see you’re outside the US.)

 

[mac_1103]

US-05 always starts within 12-18 hours for me, but I always do a direct pitch. what did you ferment in before you got the all-rounder? Did you change anything else about your process when you switched?

 

[ncbrewer]

Dry yeast recommendations have changed. Fermentis and Lallemand (and probably others) are saying rehydration and oxygenation or aeration aren't needed in general. And starters weren't recommended for dry yeast in most situations as far back as the Yeast book by Zainashef and White. Additional unnecessary handling is an opportunity for contamination. You might want to simplify.

 

[KiwiSander]

Hi all,

I fermented in a Fermenter King Junior before and had quite active fermentation. But this was only 20l vessel and I always ran out of space once the ferment took off.

FYI, it is now 18 hours and there is some pressure built up, but still not to the point where it has tripped the spunding valve.

Whether anything changed in the process, now that is the question. I have been asking myself that, but have not come up with an answer yet. This time round I changed by oxygenating and by hydrating the yeast and although I know you should not need to hydrate yeast, it also should not hurt, right? But otherwise I don't know that I changed anything, other than the fermenter. I am thinking I should invite someone over for a brew day so they can slap me when I am doing something stupid!

Re: the Tilt. I am so tempted to get a Tilt, I have a RAPT Pill, but haven't had much luck with the calibration. I messed with it for an hour on brew day trying to join it to the WiFi again and do a 2 point calibration, but eventually gave up and am now fermenting without it. That is a whole 'nother thread...

Thanks all!

 

[RM-MN]

FYI, it is now 18 hours and there is some pressure built up, but still not to the point where it has tripped the spunding valve.

Patience is needed. Yeast spend quite a while simply building up their numbers before they get to the fermentation where CO2 is produced. I notice my beers taking 24 to 30 hours to get to that point so your beer is ahead of schedule.

 

[KiwiSander]

So, firstly, of course you are all right in saying wait longer. And I suppose if someone else asked me I would have said the same. That said, in my defence, fermentation just looked different in the bigger fermenter and that threw me off.

It is now 72 hours and still no sign of any real fermentation (thin layer of krauzen, nor any bubbling (I have a blow off tube rigged up after the spunding valve just to give me a visual indication). So I pulled a sample just to see what is really going on. And surprise surprise, it seems to be just about done fermenting and tastes very nice. So I dry hopped and will give it a few more days before kegging.

Then I closed it up again, pressurised it (because I was still convinced it is not building up any pressure by itself) and plugged the spunding valve back in. And got so much CO2 in the blow off tube that the container overflowed. Touched the spunding valve and it stopped. Apparently I had a leak in my spunding valve, so it never built up any pressure.

So bottom line, confirmation bias is a b*tch. I was so convinced something is wrong that I missed something really simple. In a week or so I'll have first taste of the beer and that will be the final answer, but at the moment I am much more confident.

 

[KiwiSander]

Now I need to make another batch to prove that everything is working fine. I need more kegs!

 

[BeerHolic]

Yep hydrometer reading only true why to tell.
Have had a leak myself in the past.