No Fermentation!!!!!!!

[ShockedHop]

Ok so i recently started brewing again a couple months ago any have done like 5 batches so far. No issues and no problems at all....untill now!

I brewed a brewers best oktoberfest kit last saturday. Needless to say it was a bad brew day for me. Interruptions from kids and wife but nothing too bad. until i was trying to chill the wort. I got thru the boil no problem, then added the wort to my fermenter and added the top off water that was chilled and it went down to 100*F immediately. Then came the hour and a half of trying to chill 5 gals of wort to pitch the yeast( i know I'm an idiot, why not chill the wort before adding the top off water! lesson learned) anyway by that point it was really late an i was tired. Wort was at 76*f and i said F*ck it and pitched the yeast and put it in my fermentation chamber. by the next morning it was happily at around 58*F so figured good i should be all set. Well i was wrong here i am 5 day and still no fermentation. Tonight i tried mixing up the wort and the year to try to reactivate it. so i'll see what comes of that. But was 78*F too high for a lager yeast?(don't know what yeast it was. Another lesson learned)
Anyone have any ideas?
the gravity is the same as brew day. I'm trying to lager this.
thanks for any help

 

[boydster]

How are you determining there is no fermentation? Can you post your OG and current gravity, just to be sure?

 

[flars]

Liquid yeast? Starter? Dry yeast? Rehydrated? Wort temperature now?

 

[Pkrd]

I did a black lager with Mangrove Jacks M20... no visible activity for 5 days after pitching then it took off. Ended up great.

 

[ShockedHop]

og and current is 1.058 and it was a dry yeast. no krausen visible at all. No airlock activity ( which means crap ). there should have been something by now. and the current temp of the wort is 55*F. recipie called for pitching at 60*F so i was a bit off, and it calls for 53*F-59*F fermenting ambient temp.

 

[Spelaeus]

Maybe repitch with a different yeast? I'm not too familiar with lager yeast but I'd be surprised if they were so radically different as to die at 76F. But who knows the initial quality of the dehydrated yeast? Dud packs do happen, if rarely.

Edit: Again, not much of a lager brewer. But after some quick reading it looks like people that pitch at room temp generally then cool the wort slowly over several days to lager fermentation temps, and that it's possible that a rapid drop in temperature could cause the yeast to drop out/go into hibernation.

 

[tripplehazzard]

Where do you think you went wrong.. did you order the yeast?. That temp seems low for fermentation. What's it at now. Ramp I t up a bit? Whst are you fermentation in?

 

[ShockedHop]

Where do you think you went wrong.. did you order the yeast?. That temp seems low for fermentation. What's it at now. Ramp I t up a bit? Whst are you fermentation in?

Not really sure where I may have gone wrong. The yeast came with the kit and wasn't expired. I'm fermenting in a bucket in a mini fridge. No real temp Controll on it besides a thermostat. I am raising the temp a little to see if it helps as well as I tried to stir up the yeast. I have to check it today and see.


Keg #1 - Brewers Best American Ale
Keg #2 - Brewers Best Kolsch
Keg #3 - Harpoon IPA
Keg #4 - DK Honey Ale (Midwest Honey Ale)
Primary #1- German Oktoberfest
Primary #2-
Secondary #1-Midwest Mexican creveza
Secondary #2-
Yeah I do kits!

 

[ShockedHop]

Not really sure where I may have gone wrong. The yeast came with the kit and wasn't expired. I'm fermenting in a bucket in a mini fridge. No real temp Controll on it besides a thermostat. I am raising the temp a little to see if it helps as well as I tried to stir up the yeast. I have to check it today and see.


Keg #1 - Brewers Best American Ale
Keg #2 - Brewers Best Kolsch
Keg #3 - Harpoon IPA
Keg #4 - DK Honey Ale (Midwest Honey Ale)
Primary #1- German Oktoberfest
Primary #2-
Secondary #1-Midwest Mexican creveza
Secondary #2-
Yeah I do kits!

 

[govner1]

If the recommended pitch temp was 60 & you pitched @ 70+ that could easily be your problem. Add to that a fairly rapid drop to 58 & I think you've over stressed your yeast. Certainly wouldn't do any harm to re-pitch at this point since you said the SG was unchanged. If you go w/ a liquid yeast temper it in your ferm chamber to avoid shocking the yeast by going from room temp to 58-60 suddenly.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[ShockedHop]

Maybe repitch with a different yeast? I'm not too familiar with lager yeast but I'd be surprised if they were so radically different as to die at 76F. But who knows the initial quality of the dehydrated yeast? Dud packs do happen, if rarely.

Edit: Again, not much of a lager brewer. But after some quick reading it looks like people that pitch at room temp generally then cool the wort slowly over several days to lager fermentation temps, and that it's possible that a rapid drop in temperature could cause the yeast to drop out/go into hibernation.

What would you suggest I re-pitch with? I have some sarfale us-05 sitting around or would a nottingham yeast be better? I've never re-pitched before so I'm not sure.


Keg #1 - Brewers Best American Ale
Keg #2 - Brewers Best Kolsch
Keg #3 - Harpoon IPA
Keg #4 - DK Honey Ale (Midwest Honey Ale)
Primary #1- German Oktoberfest
Primary #2-
Secondary #1-Midwest Mexican creveza
Secondary #2-
Yeah I do kits!

 

[boydster]

It sounds like you can keep your temp pretty low and stable, so I would suggest Notty. Both of those yeasts are ale yeasts, but if you ferment the Notty at 58-60 it will be very clean and lager-like. Follow the instructions for hydrating before pitching.

 

[ShockedHop]

If I don't get any action after the stir and the temp increase I'll add some notty and see what happens.
Thanks everyone for the help.


Keg #1 - Brewers Best American Ale
Keg #2 - Brewers Best Kolsch
Keg #3 - Harpoon IPA
Keg #4 - DK Honey Ale (Midwest Honey Ale)
Primary #1- German Oktoberfest
Primary #2-
Secondary #1-Midwest Mexican creveza
Secondary #2-
Yeah I do kits!

 

[ShockedHop]

Ok so I have some notty and I am gonna repitch. Which my LHBS said to do as well. But now should I just treat it like an ale and not lager it or can I still go ahead and lager?


Keg #1 - Brewers Best American Ale
Keg #2 - Brewers Best Kolsch
Keg #3 - Harpoon IPA
Keg #4 - DK Honey Ale (Midwest Honey Ale)
Primary #1- German Oktoberfest
Primary #2-
Secondary #1-Midwest Mexican creveza
Secondary #2-
Yeah I do kits!

 

[Hermit]

Ok so I have some notty and I am gonna repitch. Which my LHBS said to do as well. But now should I just treat it like an ale and not lager it or can I still go ahead and lager?


Keg #1 - Brewers Best American Ale
Keg #2 - Brewers Best Kolsch
Keg #3 - Harpoon IPA
Keg #4 - DK Honey Ale (Midwest Honey Ale)
Primary #1- German Oktoberfest
Primary #2-
Secondary #1-Midwest Mexican creveza
Secondary #2-
Yeah I do kits!

I've done Notty pretty low. 60 is safe and it will be pretty clean at that temp.

 

[ShockedHop]

I've done Notty pretty low. 60 is safe and it will be pretty clean at that temp.

I have as well. I added the Notty last night / this morning at 12am. Went down at 8am this morning and it was definitely working. I just hope I don't get an air lock blow out with all that yeast. But better that than dump a batch.

 

[eadavis80]

Ugh.. sorry. Seeing no fermentation signs is one of the worst feelings for a home brewer. I've never lagered, but just did a quick check on Northern Brewer's Octoberfest's directions and they want their yeast pitched in the upper 50's and say you should see signs in the first couple of days. AFter a 2-week primary, then they suggest racking and lowering the temp slowly (1-2 degrees per day) until you can get it to stay around 40 degrees for a month-plus. I'd say you pitched at too high a temp, but I've never lagered. That being said, I've pitched close to 80 degrees and my beer turned out okay, but I did see fermentation signs 20 hours after pitching, so that's a big difference! Hope it turns out for you!

 

[ShockedHop]

Between the forum,LHBS, and myself I believe that the high temp wasn't the cause. But that I cooled it so quick after pitching it have have suspended the yeast. As an update i Re pitched and all is well so far. I'll let you all know when I reck to the secondary to lager what it looks and taste like at that point.

 

[ShockedHop]

Well I racked to the secondary today and all is well with the beer. 😁

tonight I brewed a midwest Irish red kit. Total time 2hr 20 mins with clean up. I think I have a good system now to chill my wort. At the end if the boil I use my chiller( which has been in the boil for 15 mins or so. ) and get the wort to about 100*F. That didn't take long at all. Then it moved it to the fermenting pail and added 2 gals of 36*F water to it. And it dropped down to 75*F almost immediately. And for the muntons ale yeast I am using it is right in the range that is specified. Pitched the yeast and it is now in my fermentation chamber cooling to about 62*F ambient temp.

Just cooling 2.5 gals of wort down was way faster that trying to cool 5 gals. I don't know what I was thinking.


Keg #1 - Brewers Best American Ale
Keg #2 - Brewers Best Kolsch
Keg #3 - Dos Barrachos (Mexican Cerveza)
Keg #4 - DK Honey Ale (Midwest Honey Ale)
Primary #1- German Oktoberfest
Primary #2-
Secondary #1-
Secondary #2-
Yeah I do kits!