Still no fermentation activity.

[Diechipmunk]

I'm brewing my first batch in many years, so I not sure if I have an issue yet.

I brewed a 1 gallon batch on Saturday morning, and tucked the fermenter in a corner of the kitchen. The temp in the kitchen is only about 65', so I wrapped a seedling mat around the bucket. As of Monday morning, there was no activity. I then had the idea to put the 2 gallon fermenter into an old 5 gallon bucket and put the heating mat around the fermenter inside the larger bucket. I have the mat attached to an Inkbird temperature controller set to 70', +/- 3'.

It's Tuesday morning now. 3 days since brewing, 1 day since moving it into the larger bucket, and still no activity.

Should I try to pitch more yeast, or wait longer?

Thanks.

 

[palmtrees]

Can you give more info on the recipe? What type of beer, what type of yeast? OG?

When you say no activity, are you judging by bubbles in the airlock? Are you using a bucket, stainless, or something clear? Has any krausen or bubbles appeared? If you're just going by bubbles, I would bet that fermentation has begun, but the Co2 is leaking out somewhere other than the airlock. That's almost always what's going on.

Can you easily take a gravity sample, or would you need to open the fermenter and use something like a wine thief? If you don't have a tap for samples, then leave it alone for a bit longer. You don't want to take unnecessary samples because you will expose the beer to oxygen. I find with one gallon batches especially, oxidation happens quickly.

 

[Diechipmunk]

I used a Brewmaster Stout kit.
The beer is in a white plastic fermenter bucket with a 3 piece airlock.

OG was 1060. I pitched dry cali yeast, half the package since it's a 1 gallon batch.

All I can see is the airlock, and the air bubble hasn't grown that I can see.
To get a gravity reading, I would need to remove the lid.

I'll wait it out a little longer.

Thanks

 

[Jag75]

It may be leaking . Try using a really bright flashlight on the side of the fermenter. You may be able to see a krausen line. Or take out the airlock to take a peak if you really want to tell.

 

[VikeMan]

The beer is in a white plastic fermenter bucket with a 3 piece airlock.

Depending on the bucket, you could shine a flashlight through it to see if krausen has formed.

Edit: redundant.

 

[jdauria]

So you have a 1 gallon batch in a 2 gallon bucket? So 50% of the bucket is head space, which leaves the CO2 a place to hang out without pushing out the airlock. Airlock bubbles are just excess CO2 escaping, and with that much space, it probably would not happen. Only way to tell is to open lid and see if krausen ring on walls of bucket or try to shine flashlight. Assuming you sprinkled the dry yeast on top and did not rehydrate, could take a day or 2 for it to get going. Let it ride another week and then check your gravity.

 

[VikeMan]

So you have a 1 gallon batch in a 2 gallon bucket? So 50% of the bucket is head space, which leaves the CO2 a place to hang out without pushing out the airlock. Airlock bubbles are just excess CO2 escaping, and with that much space, it probably would not happen.

It would take a while longer before airlock bubbles appear, but they would. Fermentation produces a lot of CO2, and once the internal pressure is high enough to overcome the pressure from the little column of airlock liquid, it will escape.

 

[Diechipmunk]

I couldn't help myself, so I opened the lid to look. There is a nice krausen on top. I think you guys are correct, I did not rehydrate the yeast and I started the ferment at a too low temperature. It is just took a while to get going and it apparently hasn't built enough pressure to bubble the airlock yet.

It's been too many years since my last batch, now I'm just a little impatient.

Thanks.