Oktoberfest Lager - problem

[jgaepi]

I started an Oktoberfest lager kit 24 hrs ago and it is still as a corpse. Not a single bubble. Not sure what is my key problem - is it the wl yeast arrived in a box on a 100 degree day, is it the fact that my neighbors kid sneezed in it who has a cold, is it because my airlock has lost 1/2 the water in it and it seems to be dripping down the inside into the Carboy, or is it the fact that my house is 77 degrees vice 65 and the brew isn't cold enough?

Any recommendations?

 

[passedpawn]

None of those things (maybe the 100). My suggestion is wait two more days then worry. If you wan't faster response from your yeast, make a large starter, and aerate with oxygen.

In the meantime, if you really wan't to be prepared, get yourself 2 packets of W34/70 dry yeast. If you don't see any signs of fermentation in 2 more days (i.e., krausen, bubbles in airlock) then rehydrate the dry yeast and pitch. If it gets going, that dry yeast stores really well for a later use.

(btw, you might know this, but an ocfest uses lager yeast, which produces a much cleaner beer at 50F; it will ferment just fine at room temp, but won't get the crisp drinkability of a traditional ocfest)

 

[jgaepi]

Ok I can do that. Any advice about the airlock thing. I used pales before and now moved up to better bottles. A new universal bung and new airlock. I said water dripping down inside the bottle. I didn't that was possible. Now half the water is gone.

 

[Yooper]

Ok I can do that. Any advice about the airlock thing. I used pales before and now moved up to better bottles. A new universal bung and new airlock. I said water dripping down inside the bottle. I didn't that was possible. Now half the water is gone.

It sounds like the wort was warmer, and is cooling. When it cools, it causes a vacuum and sucks back some of the airlock water. Keep the temperature as cool as possible, refill the airlock, and try to ignore it.

 

[passedpawn]

Ok I can do that. Any advice about the airlock thing. I used pales before and now moved up to better bottles. A new universal bung and new airlock. I said water dripping down inside the bottle. I didn't that was possible. Now half the water is gone.

If you have a starsan solution in that it won't hurt anything. The 3-piece airlocks do this, the "S-type" don't. I like the 3-piece better myself.