no bubbles after 24 hours...

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BicycleMonkey

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I just started my first batch yesterday and after 24 hours there are no bubble in the airlock. What do I need to do? If my yeast died, can I add another pack or do I have to start all over?
 
Don't worry about it, my brew took almost two days to start up, and when it did, it was going crazy, give it some more time, but from what I've read and what others will tell you, is that it'll be ok.

RDWHAHB!!
 
What temp did you pitch yeast at? Unless you pitched in excess of 100 degrees you probably didn't "kill" the yeast. They are hardy little guys.

My first brew I made and pitched without a starter didn't start for 36 hours. Hang out and relax. :)
 
make sure it is in a warm spot. wrap a blanket around the bucket or carboy. and if you happen to have a heating pad, put it on the lowest setting and stick it underneath the bucket.

the winter weather may have left your yeast dorment because your house is too cold.

did you happen to aerate the wort. it could be inactive because of lack of oxygen also. a good way to aerate is to use a whisk on the wort before adding the yeast.

also, its good to have a backup pack of dry yeast incase you get an inactive ferment.

well I should get back to work. before I get into trouble. hope this info helps.
 
I pitched the yeast at about 95 degrees. The book that came with my equipment kit said that I needed to bloom the yeast in warm water and the instructions that came with the ingredient kit I got from the homebrew store said to just add it to the wort. I figured that 95 would be blooming temperature so I went ahead and pitched it.
 
95 is a bit warm (should pitch between 70-80), but probably shouldn't have killed the yeast. It just might be 'shocked' at this point; should come around IMO.

Keep an eye on it and hopefully it will start within another day.

If not and as a last resort, i'd consider repitching another packet and aerating the wort again; can't hurt if its not going to start and the wort should be down to pitching temps now.

I stress that you wait another day or so before taking this action. The yeast should come around.
 
So if I don't have a wort chiller, how long is it safe to wait for the temp to get down to 70-80 degrees? The books and instructions I've read make it sound like if the wort hasn't cooled in like an hour bad bacteria will move in and ruin the batch.

Next time should I just pour the wort in the fermenter and cover it for several hours for the temp to reach 70-80 then reopen it to pitch the yeast?
 
To chill the wort you can throw your brew pot in the sink filled with water and ice, just make sure you leave the lid on.

That'll cool it down pretty quickly.
 
BicycleMonkey said:
So if I don't have a wort chiller, how long is it safe to wait for the temp to get down to 70-80 degrees? The books and instructions I've read make it sound like if the wort hasn't cooled in like an hour bad bacteria will move in and ruin the batch.

Next time should I just pour the wort in the fermenter and cover it for several hours for the temp to reach 70-80 then reopen it to pitch the yeast?

Your book sounds pretty extreme to me. I've heard of people leaving the wort in the garage, etc. for overnight until it cooled and it didn't ruin the batch. It definitely does increase the risk, but if you keep it covered you should be OK for a while. Again, not ideal, but possible.

I put my brewpot in the sink with 4" or so of cold water and about 10lb. of ice. I remove the lid and stir maybe every 5 mins until cool. Cools her down (2 gallon boils usually) in 15 mins or so. And I'm talking cooled down to 70-75. Last time I actually cooled the wort in the brewpot to 65 by accident. Of course it was back to 70ish after I added it to the room temp water in the fermenter.

Next time try that method...
 
So how cool is too cool for the wort to be? If my room temp is about 66 or 67, will the yeast do it's thing?
 
I have always had good results by putting 4 gallons of bottled water in the fridge the night before brewing . I use one gallon bottled water plus one gallon tap water in the boil. When the boil is close to finished I add 3 gallons of the refridgerated water to the fermenter and pour the hot wort over top, then top off to 5 gallons with the fourth gallon. I am usually able to pitch right a way. This has always worked well for me.

But now I am moving to all grain and full boils, so it will be a wort chiller from now on
 
BicycleMonkey said:
I just started my first batch yesterday and after 24 hours there are no bubble in the airlock. What do I need to do? If my yeast died, can I add another pack or do I have to start all over?

Pfft, 24 hours? You're worrying unnecessarily (although I've been there and had the same reaction). I've had batches take the better part of three days to start fermenting. I second the call to RDWHAHB. :mug:
 
I second the wait and see mentality that everyone here has been saying. But before you add any more yeast stop and look at what kind of yeast you are using. If you have a yeast that is classified as "highly flocculent" you may need to stir the yeast into solution. (I usually just pick up my primary fermenting bucket and give a little slosh) But, I would say that the biggest thing in the lag time for this fermentation has to do with pitching at 95 degrees. Although this temperature probably won't kill the yeast it may well shock it into a a phase where it doesn't too grow real fast right away. Remember that yeast is a living thing and it doesn't like temperature shocks any more than you do!

I bet that if you sit tight and don't muck around in your beer too much you'll end up with a fine brew in a few weeks! Good luck!
 
OK, it's been 48 hours and no bubbles...I have the fermenter in the pantry, should I move it someplace a little warmer?
 
Trappist Artist said:
If you have a yeast that is classified as "highly flocculent" you may need to stir the yeast into solution.
The yeast says DORIC active dry brewing yeast
 
BicycleMonkey said:
OK, it's been 48 hours and no bubbles...I have the fermenter in the pantry, should I move it someplace a little warmer?

Personally I like to throw the bucket under a cardboard box with a couple blankets on top, seems like it would help insulate better, but I think that if your pantry is about room temp then you should be ok.
 
OK, so it has now been a full three days since I sealed the fermenter and no bubbles yet!! How much longer should I wait?
 
Did you check to see if there is any sort of foam building up on the top of the beer? if so, you may just have a leak in the bucket.
 
So I opened up the fermenter and it at least smells like beer. There were bubbles but I wouldn't call it a lot of bubbles. I've triple checked the lid and don't see where there'd be an air leak, it's snapped on all the way around. I'm not sure exactly how to describe it so here's a pic.

Picture001-1.jpg
 
So should I add more yeast at this point?

*EDIT*
OMG!!! I just checked on it and I have bubbles! it's like one every three minutes but they're there. I'm surprised after opening the fermenter to take the pic it started bubbling so soon. Maybe moving the fermenter out of the pantry to take the pic jump started the yeast.
 
It looks like you've already fermented. That ring around the edges is from where the krausten fell. I'd bet your lid doesn't fit completely airtight, so the CO2 is escaping from elsewhere.

So, congradualations, YOU HAVE BEER!. Give it another few days in the primary (prolly 3 - 5), take a gravity reading, and if you've hit your target, rack to secondary for two weeks. Since you have SOME bubbles, it's not completely done fermenting (maybe you sealed it up better this last time), so don't be in a rush to rack it quite yet.
 
the_bird said:
It looks like you've already fermented. That ring around the edges is from where the krausten fell.
It was very foamy when I poured it into the fermenter.
 
Trust me, that's krausten (or however the hell you spell it). Did you take an OG reading? If so, take another reading now if you don't believe me - my friend, that is fermented BEER staring back up at you. Not FINISHED beer, but BEER nonetheless.
 
I'm with the_bird. Take a gravity reading (making sure to sanitize whatever you dip into the beer) and see what it says.
 
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