Did I Screw It?

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Diggs

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So did a Dark Ale last night and after my boil and adding my preboiled and partially cooled water my temp was still sittling at 30+, I sealed up the FV and dumped it in my fridge hoping it would get down to temp quickly. I set an alarm and got up at just after midnight to pitch my yeast (my thermometer isnt very accurate so but I am pretty sure it was under 30C). This morning there seems to be no activity (krausen or otherwise). Temp is still around the 20C mark - aiming for 16C.

  • Did I pitch the yeast (US-05 rehydrated) at too high a temp?
  • Am I jumping the gun and should be waiting this tonight before I stress?
  • Did the yeast sit too long after rehydrating (approx 2 hours on kitchen bench, covered with sanitised GladWrap)
Any ideas guys? Let me know if you need any other info as I have pretty much everything at hand (except the beer!). :p
 
Am I jumping the gun and should be waiting this tonight before I stress?

24-48 hours lag time isn't unusual - no activity after 8hrs is nothing to worry about.
 
Ok thanks guys, it's just that since I started rehydtaring my yeast I have seen really strong Krausen really quickly.

Freaking myself out that I killed it.

**Lesson learnt, the preboiled cold water will be COLD next time so I mix wort to pitching temp straight up!
 
A couple of hints:

1. Read the yeast manufacturer's website about how to rehydrate yeast, and follow them exactly.
2. Get an accurate thermometer and some scales, so you can measure the temperature and volume of water you use to rehydrate your yeast. You probably know, but 100ml of water will weigh 100gr, so that gives you an idea of the amount of water you need, and calculate the weight proportionately.

Alternatively, you can be lazy, and just pitch 2 packets dry on top of the wort when it gets down to fermentation temperature. It will cost you more, but you can always read up on yeast harvesting etc.

I know lots of brewers on here say you can ferment US05 down to about 15C, but I find it goes to sleep on me below 18C. You'll get a perfectly clean beer at 18C, no need to go lower than that for a Brown Ale.
 
i had a similar experience on my last brew....

re-hydrated yeast in water that was a little colder than it should have been. no airlock activity or kreusen for 24hrs or so, then overnight it turned into a monster :)

relax, im sure it'll be just fine!
 
Cheers Warra, was spot on for using the Fermentis instructions till wort came in at well above pitching temp, then had to wait a few more hours :huh:

I'll be rushing home tonight to make sure it's chugging along!
 
I just used a packed of US 05 and was fermenting in the 18 degree range (don't have a fridge yet so relying on my ice box and some ice rotations). Took over 48 hours to get a krausen to form and get going. Never really what I'd call a fast ferment, was at 1.012 at 7 days with the krausen still dropping. It's now been almost three weeks in the primary and it's only now getting to what I would considering bottling condition. Didn't start to clear up untill almost right on 2 weeks.

+1 for patience.
 
what you can also do, and I tend to do this these days, is to slowly add wort from the FV to the yeast (Following Rehydration as per Manuf' specs)... I might add say 200ml every 5-10mins so that the yeast temp is roughly the same as the wort.

In saying that, I do this mostly because the rehydration temps is usually far above that of my wort, say +/- 3'c 30'c (US-05) and the wort will be at 17-18'c so is a good way to get it to the lower pitching temp reasonably quickly.

Yob
 
In my experience there's also no harm (and maybe benefit) in pitching into wort that's a few deg higher than your desired ferment temp. With US-05 I'd usually pitch at between 20-24 and then let it fall over the next day or so to 18. I've actually read in a couple of great recipes I've used that this is what you want to do rather than pitch straight into 18C. I'm sure it doesn't matter much either way but I've had cracker beers doing this and I think the higher start temp gets things going quicker.
 
Using pre-boiled water can possibly remove the dissolved oxygen from a lot of the water. I've read that
this can slow down the initial fermantation a lot. My question is why boil the water, is your supply that poor?

I have a new tap that aerates the water and I also half fill drink bottles and give it a shake to aerate some more.

I now get fermentation off and running within about 16 hours every time.

Of course all this aeration is only good BEFORE fermentation and at room temperature. Aeration after fermantation is bad, bad, bad; and should be avoided at all costs.
 
Hi Robbo, reason for boiling is I dont trust the water supply and I am trying to keep as sanitary as much as possible (had a few infections prior to adding this step).

I actually have a large drill attached paint mixer that I used to whip the wort up really well prior to pitching to ensure of aeration.

It has all kicked off now, not as strong as others I have done but it's all looking good.
 
Ok, as per the wisdom of all here - everything is fine and I was stressing about nothing.

Checked this arvo and I have a big strong krausen, my bout of PKS (premature krausen stress) has been calmed by a good wait and a couple of beers :p

So glad for this site.

Cheers guys
 
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