Is my yeast dead?

[Z-BONE]

I did my first brew on Sunday afternoon, and it's getting to be about 48hrs after pitching the yeast. It started bubbling (slowly) after around 12 hours and lasted for until about 30 hours. Now the bubbling has stopped.

My fermenter's temperature was around 74-76 degrees through the process and I was wondering if I might've killed the yeast or if I need to do anything to correct this.

 

[GodsStepBrother]

That is a very high fermentation temperature for a normal ale yeast? What yeast are we talking about? I hope it is a Saison yeast.

Now the bubbling you describe is that your airlock activity or are you talking about a Krausen layer bubbling up?

What temperature did you pitch your yeast at?

You still have some time, try and cool it down a bit though.

 

[mrk305]

It might be done already. If it was bubbling out of the airlock you most definatly had fermentation. The only way to know is to take a gravity reading. It still needs to sit for a couple more weeks at least though to settle and clear. I give mine a month to finish.

 

[Z-BONE]

That is a very high fermentation temperature for a normal ale yeast? What yeast are we talking about? I hope it is a Saison yeast.

Now the bubbling you describe is that your airlock activity or are you talking about a Krausen layer bubbling up?

What temperature did you pitch your yeast at?

You still have some time, try and cool it down a bit though.

It was nottingham dry yeast. I'm assume that it was normal airlock activity..It gave a nice big bubble about every 10-15 seconds. Nothing bubbled up or through it. I currently have a fan on it and A/C chilling the room down, will try to get a water bath on it tonight with a towel if I can finagle one out of household items.

 

[GodsStepBrother]

It might have been fermentation or those bubbles coming through your airlock are most likely just air expanding in the carboy and being released by your airlock. As stated so many times airlock activity is not a reliable indicator of fermentation.

You didn’t notice any layer of foam forming on top of the beer at all? Also what temperature did you pitch your yeast at?

Regardless I wouldn’t check gravity till at least tomorrow, you might just have some lazy yeast that are taking that sweet a$$ time to start eating.

 

[Legin]

Are you using a plastic bucket to ferment? If so, i would check the sealing. That might explain why you are not getting any activity in the lock. Even if it had finished (possible, though unlikely), co2 would still be releasing from the beer. And assuming you did accelerate the fermentation, you should still have a nice Krausen on top. And you need not worry, those temps would not kill your yeast, though a drastic cool down from those temps may shock them into inactivity (dormancy...something of that sort).

 

[Z-BONE]

It might have been fermentation or those bubbles coming through your airlock are most likely just air expanding in the carboy and being released by your airlock. As stated so many times airlock activity is not a reliable indicator of fermentation.

You didn’t notice any layer of foam forming on top of the beer at all? Also what temperature did you pitch your yeast at?

Regardless I wouldn’t check gravity till at least tomorrow, you might just have some lazy yeast that are taking that sweet a$$ time to start eating.

There's no layer of foam on the top of the liquid but there is a deposit about an inch thick above the liquid level.

I pitched my yeast around 80 degrees, this was the wort temperature before I topped off with water (~3.5gal).

Thanks for your help

 

[GodsStepBrother]

80 is high on the pitching temp but still should not kill the yeast. I honestly think you just had a very fast fermentation Z-bone. That “deposit layer” you speak of is most likely the remnants of a krausen layer that formed while the yeast where grubbing out. The high temperatures make the yeast work very fast, but they also get stressed out and produce unwanted flavors. This is not warranted but seems to have already happened in your case.

Was this fermented in a bucket or carboy? Also if in a carboy do you see a layer on the bottom? Let the beer sit a day or two more before you even attempt to take a gravity reading.

What was the O.G. of the beer? It is probably not a high alc. Beer by how fast it fermented. Post a recipe, if you can.

 

[GodsStepBrother]

Does the ring on top of the beer look like this at all?

Or like this?

 

[Z-BONE]

80 is high on the pitching temp but still should not kill the yeast. I honestly think you just had a very fast fermentation Z-bone. That “deposit layer” you speak of is most likely the remnants of a krausen layer that formed while the yeast where grubbing out. The high temperatures make the yeast work very fast, but they also get stressed out and produce unwanted flavors. This is not warranted but seems to have already happened in your case.

Was this fermented in a bucket or carboy? Also if in a carboy do you see a layer on the bottom? Let the beer sit a day or two more before you even attempt to take a gravity reading.

What was the O.G. of the beer? It is probably not a high alc. Beer by how fast it fermented. Post a recipe, if you can.

I made a Fat Tire clone (http://www.midwestsupplies.com/flat-tire.html) unfortunently I didn't take an OG reading (Doh, didn't really learn how to use the hydrometer until after closing the bucket up).

I used a bucket, and the deposit that I was talking about looks like the second picture you have there GodsStepBrother. Not much foam (if any at all). Mostly just an amber, beer type color.

 

[dcp27]

all sounds normal, just give it a few more weeks to clean up after itself.

in the future, I'd look into a 'swamp coolers' or other means of keeping your fermenter cooler (at least at the start) to prevent unwanted fusels & esters from forming in your beer.

 

[GodsStepBrother]

What dcp27 said.

 

[Z-BONE]

Thanks everyone for you help! In the end, I wasn't super worried (this is my first brew so some worrying was justified!), and I in the end I RDWHAHB

 

[jmf143]

How do you HAHB if this was your first brew? I agree with the RDW though - you'll be fine.

 

[jmf143]

. . . . As stated so many times airlock activity is not a reliable indicator of fermentation . . .

I really think this should be re-stated as "the lack of airlock activity is not a reliable indicator that fermentation is not taking place."

EVERY time I've had airlock actvity I've had fermentation occur.

Twice I've had fermentation occur with no airlock activity.

Of course, maybe my results are an anomaly.

 

[GodsStepBrother]

Well sometimes you can get some bubbles coming out of an airlock, not do to fermentation. In this situation, it could very well have been a result of the beer warming up and expanding in the fermentor and making its way out.

You can defiantly have airlock activity with no fermentation. That is why you should really trust your hydrometer before you start counting time in-between bubbles.

edit: However do to the Krausen forming, I am sure he had a fermentation happen.

 

[jmf143]

An intermitent bubble here or there might not mean anything, but when they're coming regularly over an extended time period - that's fermentation my friend.

 

[GodsStepBrother]

An intermitent bubble here or there might not mean anything, but when they're coming regularly over an extended time period - that's fermentation my friend.

Exactly my friend!