my beer is not formenting

[Funkmasterchilly]

I am new at brewing and i decided to make an apple pie ale. i could not find apple extract so i added about three pounds of apples to my boiling wort about fifteen minutes before the end of boil. i added my slap pack american ale yeast at seventy five degrees as the package said. i didnt make a starter. i believe that the temp on my beer was a little to low the first night low 60'sf so i brought the temp up to 72 after about 12 hours, it has now been almost 40hrs and there is no sign of fermentation. i understand that it can take as long as 72hrs for beer to begin formenting but i am getting very concerned. i do see a tiny bit of condinsation but no scum ring. sould i repitch more yeast? or anyother advise thanks

 

[orangeandblue302]

are you judging your fermentation off bubbles alone or by the gravity reading?

If you are going off bubbles I think its time for Revvy to hit you with the thread..

Never judge fermentation by the airlock.

 

[llazy_llama]

Sigh...

Today had to be National Grammar Day, didn't it?

 

[Coastarine]

i understand that it can take as long as 72hrs for beer to begin formenting but i am getting very concerned.

Sooo...it seems that you already know what I was going to tell you...but you still need comforting.

Well I can tell you that it's really pretty tough to kill yeast. Here's a question, did the smack pack swell up before you pitched it? If it did then you know the yeast were kickin' when you put them in the wort, and really your temperature deviations, while not ideal, are not anything the yeast can't handle.

 

[Coastarine]

are you judging your fermentation off bubbles alone or by the gravity reading?

If you are going off bubbles I think its time for Revvy to hit you with the thread..

Never judge fermentation by the airlock.

I think he's concerned by the lack of krausen, which is somewhat legitimate. I think his hydrometer would give him a reading pretty darn close to his OG, because he's probably experiencing an extended lag time due to somewhat underpitching and possibly under-oxygenated wort.

 

[llazy_llama]

I think he's concerned by the lack of krausen, which is somewhat legitimate. I think his hydrometer would give him a reading pretty darn close to his OG, because he's probably experiencing an extended lag time due to somewhat underpitching and possible under-oxygenated wort.

That's fair enough. At 40 hours and 0 krauzen, I'd probably raise an eyebrow too and start wondering what I may have done wrong.

My best guess is that you didn't give your smack pack long enough to get ready. Give it another 24 hours or so, and you should probably start seeing some activity in your fermenter.

 

[orangeandblue302]

yea I missed that. Very legitimate concern and one that warrants a thread.

Would it be advisable to pitch some Notty yeast or would you use the same that was intended, ie. another smack pack?

 

[Revvy]

i understand that it can take as long as 72hrs for beer to begin formenting but i am getting very concerned.

I know you are getting concerned...BUT...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/fermentation-can-take-24-72-hrs-show-visible-signs-43635/

Read this....and DO NOTHING FOR AT LEST 72 HOURS!!!

Then do what is suggested in here...http://blogs.homebrewtalk.com/Revvy/Think_evaluation_before_action/

 

[Nurmey]

Welcome to HBT!

The good news is that posting these kinds of thread usually ensure that your fermentation will take off soon. It's some kind of weird beer god joke to get you all concerned enough to post then they laugh their heads off when your beer starts fermenting.

As Revvy stated, don't do anything yet. If after another day or two you haven't seen any change in your gravity, pitch some Nottingham in that baby and get her going.

 

[Funkmasterchilly]

i took a second gravity reading. the first gravity reading was 1.050 and now the gravity is at 1.040. does that mean that it is fermenting? there are still no other signs of fermentation. could having added the apples have effected my hopefully soon to be beer..

 

[Funkmasterchilly]

crap i just dropped and broke my hydrometor

 

[Coastarine]

crap i just dropped and broke my hydrometor

Oh man that's the oldest beer-god trick in the book. Now you have no choice but to sit back and relax.

 

[SumnerH]

i took a second gravity reading. the first gravity reading was 1.050 and now the gravity is at 1.040. does that mean that it is fermenting?

Either that or someone's sneaking in and diluting it with water and spiriting away the extra volume.

Fermenting seems more likely.

 

[Blue_Water]

Probably definitely spriting away the extra volume. Any recent deceased relatives?

 

[elwappoalot]

I've used the red-to-pitch for 2 brews, the first I smacked it and added it almost right away with success (to spit stout) and the second most recent I smacked and gave about 30-60 mins to swell some and pitched, that worked fine as well. I brewed two batches on monday (03/02/09) a simple amber ale which I used dry yeast that I started with (boiled and cooled) luke warm water and sat for 15-20 mins pitched and aerated (actually I made a mistake and used the wrong bucket so I had to pour this batch into my other bucket so the whole batch got mixed very well and aerated excellently) and fermenation started very quick, by the morning it was bubling like crazy. Whereas the other brew (a delirium tremens clone) with the liquid (ready-to-pitch) didn't start bubbling hard till today. Go figure.. Yeast is very "froggy" it takes a lot to kill it off completely!

But yes if the gravity readings are going down, then sugar is being converted into delicious alcohol, In my experience the temperature seems to cause slower fermentation.
I've read recipes that actually use a boiled (fruit mash) that is infused during fermentation to give flavor, as apposed to using a fruit extract.

 

[orangeandblue302]

I've used the red-to-pitch for 2 brews, the first I smacked it and added it almost right away with success (to spit stout) and the second most recent I smacked and gave about 30-60 mins to swell some and pitched, that worked fine as well. I brewed two batches on monday (03/02/09) a simple amber ale which I used dry yeast that I started with (boiled and cooled) luke warm water and sat for 15-20 mins pitched and aerated (actually I made a mistake and used the wrong bucket so I had to pour this batch into my other bucket so the whole batch got mixed very well and aerated excellently) and fermenation started very quick, by the morning it was bubling like crazy. Whereas the other brew (a delirium tremens clone) with the liquid (ready-to-pitch) didn't start bubbling hard till today. Go figure.. Yeast is very "froggy" it takes a lot to kill it off completely!

But yes if the gravity readings are going down, then sugar is being converted into delicious alcohol, In my experience the temperature seems to cause slower fermentation.
I've read recipes that actually use a boiled (fruit mash) that is infused during fermentation to give flavor, as apposed to using a fruit extract.

quite the post!

 

[Funkmasterchilly]

damn those beer gods, i ran out and bought more yeast and when i got home to my amazement it was bubbling...........

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

Yes, they work like that.

In an opposite kinda story. I pitched Mauri yeast on the evening of march third. Had a blow off so intense yesterday that even with a 7 inch head space (13g carboy) and a blow off tube, it still sounded like jet aircraft on take off.

Woke up this morning and put the airlock back in. Now it's bubbling real slow. Figured that yeast must have had one hell of a party and checked the SG. Sure enough, down from 1.062 to 1.024 in 36 hours! Now to wait several long weeks....