AG brew not fermenting

[wildburkey]

I done my first all grain batch yesterday and pitched the yeast about 12am this morning, should I be concerned that it isn't showing signs of fermentation yet @16hrs. I hydrated 2 packets of safale about 6hrs prior to pitching and it has been sitting at a consistent 20c. I ran far later than expected so I put in a teaspoon of table sugar in the starter about 2 and a half hrs after hydrating. I also stuffed up water volume on the sparging so added boiled chilled water to the wort to bring the OG to what I was aiming for (1.048); could either of these be the problem here? Pretty sure I got a good conversion the iodine test showed no black, the only other thing I can think could be a problem is it is in a 60L fermenter and is only a bit over half full. It has a tiny bit of froth on top but I see no bubbling, It smells great so I really am hoping I can get it to start.

 

[Diesel80]

Question,
how come you rehydrated yeast so far in advance? I think they can struggle if rehydrated in water for more the 20 mins.

Might knock them about a little, slowing take up time.
Should still be ok though.

Hell my last effort with Nottingham a month ago took 72 hours to show Krausen. With Nottingham that is whack.
On Monday I pitched a pack into a 1.044 wort (Notts again) and then when home from work Tuesday I checked it. Going Nutz.
Right next to it, Same wort with BRY97. Zilch to the naked eye. Bit of reading tells me it is a slow starter so no stress.

If it gets to 72 hours and no Krausen, check a hydro sample to make sure ferment is started. If not maybe send in some fresh stuff!

No need to panic just yet though.

Cheers,
D80

 

[wildburkey]

Cheers Diesel, I was instructed by the supplied recipe to hydrate when I start to mash, come to think of it it prob wasn't quite 6 hrs prob about 4 and a half to 5. By the time I mashed for 1hr, drained off to boil kettle, mash/ sparged for 20 min and drained then sparged again and drained; waited for a boil then done the 60 min boil, chilled and racked to fermenter the time just disappeared. I'll be keeping better records of time, volumes etc in the future. Touch wood it'll all work out fine, it's been a good learning kurb none the less.

 

[wildburkey]

I hit the panic button a bit early, It's started now :super:

 

[danestead]

Good to hear.

The froth on top you are referring to is probably krausen. This means your fermentation has started. Krausen is basically yeast. Ale yeasts ferment at the top of your wort and they it usually grow a krausen which is mainly yeast. Lagers ferment at the bottom so any foam you see is more likely just foam created from co2 coming out of solution like the head on a glass of beer.

As said above rehydrating your yeast that far in advance is probably not good for your yeast. Ive never actually heard of anyone doing it that early. The reason I think its probably not the best idea to rehydrate hours in advance is that yeast need to eat. When yeast run out of food to eat (sugars) they go to sleep. So you have probably woken them up from their dehydrated state and then they have gone back to sleep because there is nothing for them to eat. At that stage they have probably used up their energy (glycogen reserves) so could end up in a less healthy state than when you started. The fact you added some sugar Im not suremif it would be good or not. Generally you dont want to be adding simple sugar or any type of sugar or malt when rehydrating yeast but because your yeast was hydrated for 4-6hrs im not sure. Thats my understanding off the top of my head anyway.

 

[kaiserben]

When I start to mash I take my yeast out of the fridge and leave it aside (to allow it to come up to room temperature before rehydrating at ~28C). Could that be what the recipe meant to say?

Most literature says you don't want rehydration to last any longer than 30 minutes from start to finish. So I usually start rehydration when the wort transfer from kettle to fermenter is nearly done.

 

[wildburkey]

Cheers fellas, I've always used LME kits and usually hydrate for no longer than 10min. I have a nice thick krausen now and it is chugging along nice and steady. I put little to no trust in the recipe supplied, I'm beginning to get my head around the brew software and the process involved in AG now so will be stocking up from brewman next time round.

 

[kunfaced]

Next brew maybe try increasing both mash and boil times. I would normally recommend a minimum of 90 minutes for the boil and somewhere between 75-90 minutes on the mash. When I started out, these two things helped limit the lag before ferment.

 

[Diesel80]

Lol my BRY97 Still not krausened. 60 hours and counting. Will give it one more day...
Then in goes notts army.

 

[wildburkey]

Thanks for the tips and advice, this forum has been a godsend. Good luck with the Nottingham Diesel; is it an EPA?

 

[Diesel80]

I did a double batch of English Best Bitters
But since I like variety, I only added EKG as bittering addition to the kettle.

Then, I no chilled in 2x cubes a batch each. Filling the cubes hot allows you to add more hops in the cubes for additional bittering and flavor. So into one I added fuggles as per original plan, into the other I used Cascade.
When I put them into the fermenter the next day, I have added Nottingham to keep the one with fuggles all English, and the other I added a US yeast (which if it gets going) which will give me 2 completely different beers from 1 brew day.

I guess the second could be a US Best Bitters?
Variety is the spice of life

Very simple recipe, if you want it message me.

Cheers,
D80

 

[NikZak]

When I start my brews I take my yeast out of the fridge and stick it in my back pocket to warm up and then pitch it into warm water about 20 mins from when I'll need it (usually when wort is cooling I find is the perfect amount of time)

 

[wildburkey]

Cheers fellas, I'm keen to try so many recipes I like all beer really. Think I'll go with a black IPA next round to share with the old man at christmas; he loves a dark ale and is interested in what I'm up to. I tried a Black Betty IPA not long ago and loved it so going to see if I can find an simple knock off for that, I'll shoot you a pm and grab the recipe still seeing you say it's easy; it'll go next on the list.

 

[Diesel80]

Went out to check my delinquent batch last night.
Open fridge looked at the best bitters under Nottingham. Absolutely cranking. Hazy with a sh1t tonne of yeast and mass Krausen.
Next to it, the problem child. Nudda after 70 hours with BRY-97.

Bah!
So inside I went, watched some TV, warmed up a pack of BRY-97 to add later.
Went back out an hour later, still zilch. Boiled some water and started to cool it.
Went out a checked one last time, bang on 72 hours. ******* Krausened to the sh1thouse. Cheaky brewstard.

Yeast pack back in the fridge, with a mental note to make a starter to pitch for next APA.
So moral of this story, BRY-97 will get there if rehydrated, but it will test your patience.

Cheers,
D80

 

[wildburkey]

Good to hear, thanks for the recipe!

 

[NikZak]

Yeah I'm glad it's going good now mate