Not sure what to do

[Jonharri]

I made a batch of Brandon O's graff on Saturday. Nothing jumps out as a mistake. I boiled the LME, and cooled it. I put the yeast in warm water prior to pitching. I added 2 gallons of cider and the LME wort and pitched the yeast at about 70 degrees.

It has been more than 3 days. I am getting one bubble about every 2 minutes. I did not take an OG reading, but it is at 1.06 right now. I have no more yeast on hand. Any thoughts? Should I just wait another day or two.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

well, it's hard to say without knowing the OG. if the OG was 1.06, nothing happened. if it was 1.09, then it's been fermenting. either way, 3 days is an awful short time to be expecting an FG yet. how much LME did you use, and how much cider did you add? also, what was the volume of the beer wort before you added cider. if you can tell me that, i can run the #'s and give you a good idea of your OG. also, if you tell me what yeast you used, i can give you a rough estimate of a target FG.

 

[Jonharri]

I put in 1.75 gallons of cider and one can of Mr. Beer LME (19 oz.) I added a half gallon of water to the wort and used the Mr. Beer yeast that came with the LME.

I am not expecting FG yet, but I am concerned nothing is happening. Thanks for the help.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

not that this is exact in any way, because all juice has a slightly different gravity, but for 2 gallons i got around 1.06 for your OG. i didn't bother entering a yeast type or anything to get an FG, mainly cuz the juice should ferment all the way out, so it's hard to say.
so you're at 3 days from pitching and the gravity is still at 1.06. did the juice happen to have a preservative like potassium sorbate in it?

 

[Jonharri]

All the juice said it was pasteurized but no preservatives. one gallon was regular cider, but the other 3 liters were carbonated pumpkin cider. Do you think this would cause a problem?

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

i'm not positive, and hopefully someone who knows more about cider making can chime in, but maybe the carbonated cider threw the yeast off. carbonation and pressure can affect the yeast's cell membrane, so it could be the issue.

 

[Jonharri]

OK - still no bubbles this morning. It is pushing 4 days. I know that the airlock is not the best indication of fermentation, so I plan to take another SG reading tonight to see if it is moving. I suspect it is not.

So - here are my thoughts. If the SG is still at 1.06, I plan to either pitch some bread yeast (all I can get my hands on today), or should I wait until I can get some ale yeast shipped from an online store? Looking for some advice.

Also, it has some white "dots" forming on top of the liquid. Not sure what it is, but I plan to take a picture and post tonight.

 

[TheCrackpot]

Could the 'white dots' be groupings of very small bubbles? Usually when I have a yeast starter that is beginning to ferment and I haven't shaken it for a while, CO2 starts bubbling up from the bottom where the yeast is sitting. It looks like small, white spots. Upon close inspection you should be able to see that they are bubbles.

 

[Jonharri]

Here is a picture of the white spots. I am not sure if they are bubbles or funk. I still am not sure if I should pitch some bread yeast. It is all I have until I can get some beer yeast online. I will take another SG reading just to verify it is not moving.

Any advice - should I just wait. It has now been more than 4 days with no activity.

 

[Jonharri]

Here is a picture of the white spots. I am not sure if they are bubbles or funk. I still am not sure if I should pitch some bread yeast. It is all I have until I can get some beer yeast online. I will take another SG reading just to verify it is not moving.

Any advice - should I just wait. It has now been more than 4 days with no activity.

SG is still at 1.06. I pitched the bread yeast. We will see what happens.

If any of you thing the white spots on the top of the wort is a problem let me know. I will finish this out, but don't have high hopes....