Stirring the brew, should i?

frostyp · Jul 26, 2012

Started a coopers Australian lager yesterday, pitched yeast at 24*c and gently folded into the foam, appears to be hardly any fermentation going on , zero bubbles coming through airlock , considering removing lid for a minute and giving a good stirring to introduce some air into it, is this a good idea or bad? Will it do it any harm? Please help, this is the third attempt at lager all been different ones, first was a great success and the second wasn't , although I don't know why, really want this one to excell.

HeavyKettleBrewing · Jul 26, 2012

frostyp said:
Started a coopers Australian lager yesterday, pitched yeast at 24*c and gently folded into the foam, appears to be hardly any fermentation going on , zero bubbles coming through airlock , considering removing lid for a minute and giving a good stirring to introduce some air into it, is this a good idea or bad? Will it do it any harm? Please help, this is the third attempt at lager all been different ones, first was a great success and the second wasn't , although I don't know why, really want this one to excell.

Leave it for another day or so. My first concern would be the yeast included in any kit. Was it dry? Did you proof it?

Grantman1 · Jul 26, 2012

Also keep in mind that it's very easy to under pitch yeast with a lager. Did you use a yeast calculator to determine how much to pitch?

http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

If using dry yeast, you may need to use 2 packets, or create a good sized starter instead. But I agree with above, I'd maybe wait another day or so to see if anything happens.

frostyp · Jul 26, 2012

Yes it was a dry yeast, the last one I did I soaked in a cup of water as suggested at I think if I remember about forty degrees and that one came out awful , that's why just purely followed the directions this time, to be honest I thought 40*c would be killing the yeast off that's why I stuck to dry introducing this time

kwingert · Jul 26, 2012

Yeah 40*c probably killed most of them. Give it some time. If you underpitched, then the yeast need time to make other yeast.

twistr25 · Jul 26, 2012

Nothing through the airlock doesn't mean it's not fermenting. Your bucket lid could be slightly off somewhere that the CO2 would rather escape from than going out the airlock. I think a lot of posts on here recommend waiting up to 72 hours before worrying about fermentation not starting.