Beer not fermenting after 6 Days!

[michaelpls]

Hi all,

6 Days ago I put down a cheap and easy toucan using

-2 x coopers draught cans
-.5kg belgian candi (amber)
-12G POR hops (10min)

It has been sitting in my fermentation cooler at ~16^c.

I checked the S.G today and it had only moved 2 points... from 1052 to 1050.
I can see a slight krausen but it is not very active at all and there is a whitish film on the top which I have never seen before.
The only thing I have done differently this time is used rewashed US-05 from a previous brew, I had never washed yeast before but am fairly sure I followed
all the instructions correctly. I didn't use a starter for the yeast and just pitched it at ~25^c.
Should I just throw it out and use fresh yeast next time? or is it possible for the yeast to be lagging this much?


Cheers,

Michael

 

[sponge]

How much washed yeast did you pitch? Did you make a starter?

EDIT: And how was the washed yeast stored? How old was it?

 

[Yob]

how much rinsed yeast did you use? What was the rinsing process?

16'c combined with a big underpitch may explain a lengthy lag... Personally, I'd wait and see.. Id have probably pitched more yeast at about day 3 or 4 though..

Picture of the white film? does it still taste ok?

 

[wynnum1]

6 Days is a long time do not like your chances of getting a succesfull outcome .

 

[HBHB]

is that gravity reading from a hydrometer or a refractometer?

 

[The Judge]

What temp did you take your initial reading at? 1.052 at 20C hopefully. Then the reading at 16C when adjusted to 20C is probably around 1.048 or something. i.e. something is happening very slowly. Suggest pitching a dehydrated pack of US-05, bringing it up to 18C and crossing your fingers as you've probably underpitched, had it marginally too cool and suffered an extremely long lag phase.

edited because what I said the first time was rubbish.

 

[michaelpls]

I wouldn't be able to get a picture sorry.. It's very fine. I pitched about a cup worth of liquid... not sure what that would equate to.. To rinse the yeast I
-added cooled boiled water to the trub and mixed it around..
-let it settle out
-collected the liquid on top and stored that in the fridge for 2 days before pitching it.

it tastes.... extremely sweet. It has been cold here lately.. I'll change the temp to ~20 and see what happens.

Thanks for the help :beer:

 

[The Judge]

The liquid on top is generally the water/wort that you want to dispose of in order to get to the yeast layer. The middle layer is the yeasty goodness (see this thread). Sounds like there's a fair chance you pitched a very tiny concentration of yeast cells.

 

[antiphile]

As all the previous respondants have said, it does seem odd it hasn't taken off yet with such an amount of "simple" sugars in it; assuming of course, the yeast had a reasonable viability rate.

My main interest, though, is while I'll admit my ignorance in never using Belgian Candy, doesn't it seem a huge amount of sugar to add? To get to 1.052 OG, I'm guessing you made it up to 50 litres, but even if that's right, it seems to be a very high balance of simple sugars to malt.

 

[manticle]

6 days + whit film sounds cactus to me.
Worth leaving in case the film is not really a film - should be quite distinct from krausen. Google image 'aceto beer film' but film floats on the surface tension if that makes sense. Like a web on the beer surface.

If you're interested in sours or funky beers, you might leave it for 6 months or more and add flavourings like oak or fruit.

Otherwise see where it is in a week and ditch if it's no good. Consider a new fermenter - some bugs hang around.

 

[manticle]

As all the previous respondants have said, it does seem odd it hasn't taken off yet with such an amount of "simple" sugars in it; assuming of course, the yeast had a reasonable viability rate.

My main interest, though, is while I'll admit my ignorance in never using Belgian Candy, doesn't it seem a huge amount of sugar to add? To get to 1.052 OG, I'm guessing you made it up to 50 litres, but even if that's right, it seems to be a very high balance of simple sugars to malt.

It's a toucan brew so two hopped coopers tins + 500g simple sugar (as opposed to traditional 1 kit plus kilo)

 

[antiphile]

Damn! My apologies, Manticle. I thought the original post had 5.0 kg instead of 0.5 kg.Hence my calculation of 50 litres. I'll go back to my cave now.

 

[manticle]

You wouldn't be the only person in the world to miss a decimal. Just wish you were my payroll lady.