OK, Here's the situation. Over the last 4 months I have had two batches of beer never start fermentation after 48 hours. One was an ale, this last one was my first lager. I think I may be under pitching, but I'm not sure.
The first batch that went wrong was last November. It was an english bitter that I was planning on haveing ready by Christmas, OG was about 1.040. It was an all extract brew. I used a White Labs liquid yeast, I want to say the London Ale. The expiration date on the yeast was like 3 months away. I took the yeast out of the fridge a few hours before to get it to room temp. When I shook it, the yeast easily broke away form the bottom of the vile without any effort...usually I have to shake vigorously for a few minutes to break all the clumps away from the bottom. I had never brewed with this yeast before so I was not sure how it acted. I brewed as normal, I cooled the wort to about 72, transfered to the carboy, aerated by swirling the carboy for a few minutes, pitched the yeast, aerated some more. Put it down in the basement where it was about 65 degrees. A little low, but temp should not be an issue. After 48 hours no sign of life, it looked as if I never pitched anything. I dumped it down the drain as I was holding back tears...
After that I swore to use only the Wyeast slap packs. This last batch, which was a lager, the same thing happened. I used Wyeast 2007 Pilsen Lager. I am not sure of the expiration, I did nto look. I asked the guy at the homebrew store what a good pilsner yeast would be and thats what he gave me...totally slipped my mind. I activated the slap pack on the way home becuase I was brewing later that day. Anyway, I did a partial mash on this one. OG 1.063. Cooled wort to 72 degrees. I noticed that 5 hours after activating the smack pack, the bag was barely bulging. Usually the bags look like that are goning to burst after 5 hours. But never using this yeast before, let alone a lager yeast, I didn't know what to expect. I aerated the wort, pitched aerated again. This is where I may have made a mistake. This time I put the wort directly into a fridge that was at 48 degrees (The warmest I can get it). The next morning (16 hours later) nothing. The fridge had cooled to about 42. So I pulled it out of the fridge and let it sit in the basement which was at 62 to let it warm up. After 24 hours, I shook it up to hopefully arouse the yeast. This morning I checked and nothing. So when I get home today, I will be dumping it down the drain, again holding back tears.
The only thing I can think of is that I am getting weak yeast and I need to make a starter a few days before. If anybody has any other ideas why this is happening, Im all ears. I cannot deal with the emotional trauma of dumping a batch down the drain.
The first batch that went wrong was last November. It was an english bitter that I was planning on haveing ready by Christmas, OG was about 1.040. It was an all extract brew. I used a White Labs liquid yeast, I want to say the London Ale. The expiration date on the yeast was like 3 months away. I took the yeast out of the fridge a few hours before to get it to room temp. When I shook it, the yeast easily broke away form the bottom of the vile without any effort...usually I have to shake vigorously for a few minutes to break all the clumps away from the bottom. I had never brewed with this yeast before so I was not sure how it acted. I brewed as normal, I cooled the wort to about 72, transfered to the carboy, aerated by swirling the carboy for a few minutes, pitched the yeast, aerated some more. Put it down in the basement where it was about 65 degrees. A little low, but temp should not be an issue. After 48 hours no sign of life, it looked as if I never pitched anything. I dumped it down the drain as I was holding back tears...
After that I swore to use only the Wyeast slap packs. This last batch, which was a lager, the same thing happened. I used Wyeast 2007 Pilsen Lager. I am not sure of the expiration, I did nto look. I asked the guy at the homebrew store what a good pilsner yeast would be and thats what he gave me...totally slipped my mind. I activated the slap pack on the way home becuase I was brewing later that day. Anyway, I did a partial mash on this one. OG 1.063. Cooled wort to 72 degrees. I noticed that 5 hours after activating the smack pack, the bag was barely bulging. Usually the bags look like that are goning to burst after 5 hours. But never using this yeast before, let alone a lager yeast, I didn't know what to expect. I aerated the wort, pitched aerated again. This is where I may have made a mistake. This time I put the wort directly into a fridge that was at 48 degrees (The warmest I can get it). The next morning (16 hours later) nothing. The fridge had cooled to about 42. So I pulled it out of the fridge and let it sit in the basement which was at 62 to let it warm up. After 24 hours, I shook it up to hopefully arouse the yeast. This morning I checked and nothing. So when I get home today, I will be dumping it down the drain, again holding back tears.
The only thing I can think of is that I am getting weak yeast and I need to make a starter a few days before. If anybody has any other ideas why this is happening, Im all ears. I cannot deal with the emotional trauma of dumping a batch down the drain.
![Craft A Brew - Safale S-04 Dry Yeast - Fermentis - English Ale Dry Yeast - For English and American Ales and Hard Apple Ciders - Ingredients for Home Brewing - Beer Making Supplies - [1 Pack]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41fVGNh6JfL._SL500_.jpg)
. I suspect both batches would have finished just fine if you hadn't watered your lawn with them, but what's done is done.
