Beer Hasn't Started Fermenting After 30 Hours,why?

[beerlover101]

help me please!! my beer hasn't started to ferment and its been over a day now.

i used k-97 wheat yeast for a honey wheat beer, actully heres my recipie ( method: just chucked it all straight into fermenter didnt worry about boiling. , morgans golden sheaf wheat, 1.2 kg fresh local honey, 500g ldme, cascade tea bag). now this is my 5th brew and did, and the sterlising/mixing process was exactly the same as all my last brews and thy have all turned out perfect, so iam pretty sure its not that. this is my first ale ( does ale yeast take some time to start or could it be the k-97 does it take a while). oh yeah temp is at 20-22.

p.s. please help ive been stressing my girlfriend about it all day.

 

[seravitae]

a) some yeasts can take a few days sometimes up to a week before you see noticable fermentation.

B) check the seal on your fermentor lid and also check the grommet where the airlock is, if its not sealed it will leak CO2 without the airlock being in line..

c) if you're game, take the lid off and smell the inside of the container - you can tell if CO2 is being produced.

d) relax B) it might turn out to be the best beer in the world or never even start fermenting but in any range, no reason to get upset or take it out on other people.

A watched fermentor never bubbles..

good luck

 

[manticle]

Patience.

How do you know it's not started?

Have you checked the gravity with a hydrometer?
Is there foam?

 

[rackemup]

Time will tell, it always does

 

[boingk]

30 hours isn't a big deal. If you took a starting gravity you can take one again now and see if there is a difference. Difference = fermentation.

Look for a scum ring around the top of the liquid level - thats a good sign. Another is condensation inside the lid, and lastly I'd look at the bottom of the fermenter. A thin layer of whitish stuff on the bottom is generally yeast building up, and a sure sign of fermentation.

Cheers, and chill! - boingk

 

[beerlover101]

firstly sorry about the slow reply (broardband went over this month so back to dial up speeds)

i just checked the grav and its exactly the same, also no bubbles in test tube and yeast in the bottem of the test tube still looks like it just came out of the packet.

 

[manticle]

Maybe give it a vigorous stir with a clean, sanitised implement (such as a whisk) but otherwise wait another 24 hours. In that time, get some more yeast and if no action, rehydrate and pitch.

action may be defined as: (summary of above)

1. Gravity dropping
2. Condensation
3. Foaming/krausen
4. Sediment forming

What was the date on the yeast and did you rehydrate it or sprinkle straight on?

The very small amount of research I did suggested k-97 has been replaced by wb-06 so old yeast might be the problem. Was it kept under refrigeration in the store?

 

[beerlover101]

i just sprinkled it on top, but i forgot to mix it through after i added it, and no the yeast wasnt stored under refrig.

also i forgot to mention that this morning i freaked and added the kit yeast (and still nothing), could this have bad effects?? (mixing k-97 with morgans ale yeast)

 

[manticle]

Not bad effects.

Adding a different yeast may result in one strain becoming dominant so if you are chasing particular yeast profiles in the end result you may change that. You won't destroy the essential process of making beer though and the domination (if it actually occurs) probably won't be immediate.

Sounds like the k-97 may have been a bit old and tired to me.

Next time with dried yeast - sprinkle into some boiled, cooled water (cooled to about 20 degrees), stir or whisk with a clean, sanitised implement and leave, covered until the yeast starts to swell and foam and take on a slightly milky looking texture. Then add it to the brew.

Also your HBS should be refrigerating their yeast. When you purchase, purchase fresh, in date produce that has been stored well.

 

[boingk]

Bingo on the yeast rehydrating. I usually put a pinch of sugar or malt in the water as well. If the yeast doesn't foam, chuck something else in.

Its saved me a couple of times, I usually revert to refridgerated kit yeasts (mainly Coopers).

- boingk

 

[beerlover101]

thanks everyone for your input it, calmed the nerves,........
.....and thank the gods because my beer has started to ferment....thanks again everyone.

 

[tdh]

Not this yeast rehydration chestnut again!

Rehydrate in water at 35*c for 20 minutes, attemperate with wort over 10 minutes, then pitch. If yeast is still in its original granulated form after all this then it's knackered.

Do not add anything to the water in the rehydration phase (no sugar, no malt, no nuthin).

tdh

 

[np1962]

Not this yeast rehydration chestnut again!

Rehydrate in water at 35*c for 20 minutes, attemperate with wort over 10 minutes, then pitch. If yeast is still in its original granulated form after all this then it's knackered.

Do not add anything to the water in the rehydration phase (no sugar, no malt, no nuthin).

tdh

tdh
I have seen you make these statements previously, and I too rehydrate in this way on the odd occasion that I use a dry yeast as this is what is recommended by the manufacturer so please don't take this as trolling, but can you point us to any links that explain this in more detail.

Cheers
Nige

 

[boingk]

All I can say is that a 1 year old kit yeast (refridgerated for a few months since I've had it) started in 300ml of water with a half teaspoon of liquid malt went freakin' ballistic after maybe 15 or 20 minutes. Seeing as the LME was an ingredient in the actual brew I can only imagine it is beneficial for the final accustomisation to the wort, in weak concentrations such as the above at least.

I would also like to see some sort of documentation on the best way to get dried yeast active. Not having a shot at you, tdh, I just find that the method above works particularly well on pretty much every dried yeast I've used.

Cheers - boingk

 

[bum]

I'm sure tdh will explain it better (as I have seen him do in the past), but my very layman's understanding is that dried yeast usually has such fermentables that it might need to get going bonded to the granules and adding extra fermentables before it is rehydrated can effect the yeast's health (something to do with cell wall strength as it grows in the early stages?). Anyway, this is an extremely nut-shelled version of my understanding of other peoples' explanations and I hope I haven't sent anyone up the wrong street.

Since yeast handling is so important I have, naturally, decided to leave it last to understand.

 

[boingk]

Ah...the good old cell-wall-bursting-because-the-organism-is-too-well-nourished phenomenon. Yeah, I can go with that.

Any arguement for that being a key point in adding fermentables so as to wean out crappily gened yeasties?

*sound of spanner hitting meshed gears*

- boingk