Yeast activity

[jscerri]

Just started my second festa brew red ale kit ! I am new to this and really enjoy the thought of learning from you all how to eventually make my own wort and brew not from a kit! But for now I now getting use to everything is best! Here is my question, I added my yeast yesterday after re hurrahing it at 82degrees but it's been 24 hours and I see no activity! It it normal!

Thx all
Jay

 

[mikeh80]

Yeah, don't sweat it, man. It can take up to 72 hours to show signs of fermentation. Also, are you brewing in a bucket or a clear carboy? If you're going by airlock alone, it doesn't really mean anything, anyway. The airlock's just there to keep the lid from blowing off while excess CO2 is being produced.

 

[jscerri]

I'm using a bucket, was going to use a 6.5 gallon Carboy with rubber hose but was advised not to, so used one of my wine buckets! I had this problem with my last pilsner and the supply store had me add more yeast! Can't wait to keg this one!

Thx for your help

 

[RM-MN]

Here's a little something to read while you wait for your yeast to get going. http://www.brewgeeks.com/the-life-cycle-of-yeast.html

 

[BigFloyd]

If you cooled your wort to 65-68*F, rehydrated the yeast, attemperated (adjusted by adding small amounts of cooler wort) the yeast slurry to +/- 10*F the temp of the wort, you're good to go.

Give it at least 48-72 hours before you start to worry.

Remember, no airlock activity can simply mean that your lid and/or stopper isn't 100% sealed.

 

[jscerri]

Well the fermentation ended up 2 days sooner then expected and secondary ended 3 days sooner then expected but man! After waiting 24 hours for it to settle in my keg it is amazing! Want to do a brew next that doesn't come from a box! Any suggestions!

 

[RM-MN]

Midwest Supplies, Austin Homebrew, and Northern Brewer all have a wide range of extract kits so you should be able to find one you'd like to brew. The biggest problem with those sites is choosing just one kit.

 

[unionrdr]

Also,pitching at 82F is def too high for ale yeasts. Put some jugs of water in the fridge or cold garage for top off. At least use an ice bath to get the wort down to70-75F. Strain into fermenter,the add chilled (prefferably overnight)top off water & stir roughly 5 minutes to aerate more & mix top off & wort well. The very cold water should bring the temp down to around 64F,maybe lower depending on the temp the wort was coming out of the ice bath.
This would be a far better temp to pitch the yeast at,as most ale yeasts are happy in mid'60's wort temps. Also,if you have a local spring water place like we do,I can fill jugs with fresh spring water for 10c per gallon vs 79c per gallon in the store. Better for the yeasties & cheaper for us.