Quick yeast cake with no fermentation

[medievophile]

I am new to brewing, so thanks for any advice!

I am trying to brew a trappist ale using 8 lbs of malt extract and 1 vial of liquid yeast.

After cooling the wort, I vigorously shook up the carboy multiple times to aerate it. I let it sit for an hour while I was getting the yeast up to room temperature before pitching, but I did not aerate it again when I pitched it.

After 24 hours, there is no activity in the airlock and there is no foam on the top of the beer. There is, however an inch or so of cake at the bottom of the carboy.

Does this mean anything? Should I mix up the cake to try to get the yeast active? I know fermentation can take 1-3 days, but the presence of a yeast cake is worrying me. Any advice?

 

[OHIOSTEVE]

What you are seeing in the bottom is probably break material and hops. You should have made a starter with the yeast vial. At this point you can just let it set and leave it alone to see what happens, or get another vial of the same yeast and make a starter and pitch it.

 

[medievophile]

How long should I wait before adding more yeast to ensure that I am not adding too much yeast and producing an odd flavor?

 

[deadscott]

Depending on the freshness of the yeast, type of yest, and starting temp you may have a little lag time. What your seeing in the bottom of the fermenter is for sure break material from the boil. I would give it another day. I have had some that were slow to take off. You probably under pitched a little. Just build a starter next time to aleviate that problem. It should be fine though. Have a beer and forget about it utill you wake up. Just as a side note keep some dry yeast in the fridge to rescue a failed fermentation.

 

[Captain Damage]

By the time you're done reading all the stories here: HBT:fermentation-can-take-24-72-hrs-show-visible-signs-43635/ your fermentation will likely have started.