My wort isnt fermenting

[Josh The Brewer]

Saturday, I started my first batch scince Katrina. Im not that experienced of a brewer; I was just getting into it when I was interupted by Katrina. My problem is that my wort isnt fermenting. Like I said, I started it Saturday; I checked it just now and it doesnt have a head on it, and the air lock isnt bubbling. Im keeping it indoors, between 65-72 degrees. All of my equipment was sterilized before starting, and I have it in a plastic primary bucket. I am using a kit which comes with the hops and malt in a syrup form; and the yeast was in a small premeasured package. I folllowed the directions on the package and am not sure what I did/am doing wrong. Is there anything else I should be looking for? I cant imagine it already being finished, its only been 2 days. Im just really inexperienced and the only local home brew store went out of business with the storm, so I dont have anyone local to call for help. Man Id sure appreciate some help here. Thanks in advance, Josh

 

[david_42]

It could be done, but probably not. Is there any foam (krausen) building on top of the wort? Re-seat the lid and wait another day. If you don't see any action by then AND you don't have a hydrometer, re-pitch. If you have a hydrometer, check the gravity.

 

[casebrew]

Taste a sample? A sanitised turkey baster ought to get enough through the bubbler port in the lid. If it tasted sickening sweeet and sticky, it didn't finish.

How warm was it when you pitched the yeast? Too hot kills the yeasties.

Next time, make a starter of 1 cup sugar in one quart water, and yeast. Do it bfore you start making the beer, it ought to be foaming by the time you are ready to pitch the yeast. No foam= dead yeast.

 

[Josh The Brewer]

I dont think it was too hot when I pitched the yeast. I added 5 gallons of cold water, stirred about 15 minutes to dissolve the syrup, and then let it cool for about ten minutes before adding my yeast. Im wondering if the yeast was dead when I bought it. I checked it this morning and still no bubbles. Ill wait another day or so, and if its not bubbling Ill toss it and start over.

 

[max-the-knife]

If you have access to some more yeast, I'd re-pitch before throwing the whole thing away.

 

[FrewBrew]

sounds like you used dry yeast... did you use a starter? If not, I'd strongly consider that next time. Dry yeast takes a very long time to get started (long lag time), and therefore you won't see activity right away. If you can get some more yeast from your hbs (home brew supplier) I'd do that... preferably liquid.

Next time, I'd try going with a liquid yeast, either a "smack pack" (works like an ice pack, but it's yeast and nutrients, and baloons out) or get one of the viles of liquid yeast from wyeast.

Regarless of your option, I always recommend a starter. This will minimize your lag time, and give you the best results for fermentation.

Hoppy brewing

 

[newguy]

good god people....DO NOT THROW YOUR BEER AWAY!!!!! I'll never get that hehehe.

Ok so is there any foam in your primary?

also 2 days may not be enough. RDWHAHB. Wait a few more days and take a sample. if it tastes like beer you will be fine. If not you can re-pitch with some new fresh yeast and hope for the best.

Also give us some more detials on what you did. your step by step process so we can better get an idea of whats going on. Also exact ingredients used.

 

[Walker]

My personal experience is that dry yeast (with simple rehydration in warm water or even just 'dumbly' sprinkled onto the top of the wort) takes off just as fast as a starter made with liquid yeast. There are a LOT more yeasties in a packet of dry yeast than there are in a smack pack.

Some of my fastest starting and finishing ferments have been with dry yeast and no starter.

-walker

sounds like you used dry yeast... did you use a starter? If not, I'd strongly consider that next time. Dry yeast takes a very long time to get started (long lag time), and therefore you won't see activity right away. If you can get some more yeast from your hbs (home brew supplier) I'd do that... preferably liquid.

Next time, I'd try going with a liquid yeast, either a "smack pack" (works like an ice pack, but it's yeast and nutrients, and baloons out) or get one of the viles of liquid yeast from wyeast.

Regarless of your option, I always recommend a starter. This will minimize your lag time, and give you the best results for fermentation.

Hoppy brewing

 

[the_bird]

I'd agree 100% with Walker; I've always gotten fast starts with dry yeast, always within ten or twelve hours. I've rarely used liquid yeast because I've had such good results with dry.

But, there's a very good chance that the yeast that came with the kit was shot. Those kits tend to be stored in suboptimal conditions. If you have any way of getting your hands on some new, neutral dry yeast (Nottingham, Safale US-56, something like that), I'd do that. Sounds like you did everything else fine, and I would imagine that there would be some kind of krausen residue if the beer had already fermented out (although I've never used a prehopped kit, so I don't know how that might be different).

In any case, get your hands on some dry yeast ASAP.