Fermentation !

[Troy294]

Well I have done my second brew its a coopers lager and I took some advise from reading the forum and I ditched the yeast that comes with it and I got myself a packet of us-05 yeast ( first time user )
I activated the yeast like the brew shop told me to ( put in cup with a bit of water cover let sit etc ) I had my brew tub sitting in a old fishing esky quarter filled with water to keep my brew at a lower temp .
So at the end before I added my yeast the temp strip was on about 22 celcius , so I added yeast in which at this stage was like a paste gave a bit of a mix around put the lid on and bubbler ( air lock ) now it's been approx 15hrs and nothing is happening . I checked temp this morning and it's sitting on about 22 still .
I noticed there is a few white tiny foam patches on top .
How long can it take for fermentation to start . This is first time I have used the us-05 yeast .

 

[carpedaym]

This seems like a fairly normal start to a standard ale yeast fermentation. It sounds like you did everything right too. By tonight it should be a bit more active with some bubbles from the airlock. It can take a day or two to get cranking. With US-05, don't expect loads of foam like you might have seen pictures off, it's a pretty lax yeast.

Only a few things you didn't mention which would be good to ensure for next time:
- Did you sanitize the cup you used for rehydration?
- Did the yeast come straight out of the fridge when you rehydrated them, or did you let the pack warm up to room temperature?

The second point is fairly minor, but yeast don't like thermal shock. I always do my best to avoid it by letting the pack warm naturally to room temperature before rehydrating or pitching.

The yeast cell count in a lot of yeast packets is actually a little short of what the pros like to use. For this reason, a lot of people make a yeast starter with some dry malt extract, which will get the yeast hitting the ground running. This is essentially a bland, mini-beer so that the yeast can start metabolising and reproduce a little, upping their cell count. Doing this will really shorten the lag time and possibly the overall fermentation time. Google "yeast starter" for more information.

Having a higher cell count when pitching will also reduce the amount of estery flavours produced. In US-05 this is usually not an issue, but some people have reported a slight 'peachy' flavour especially when the yeast is reproducing above its ideal temperature range. Seeing as you don't have a high level of temperature control yet, a starter might be something to try next time if you notice any peachiness or other estery flavours.

In reality there shouldn't be any trouble just rehydrating the yeast the way you did and US-05 is popular because you really can just pitch-and-forget.

I take it your first brew took off a bit faster? Had you just used the kit yeast for that?

 

[bum]

No starters for dry yeast. If you want a higher pitch rate buy more yeast.

If you're trying to keep this batch a bit cooler than the first then that explains why the first took off faster.

Looks like you're doing everything pretty well to me. Those little patches of foam means she's off and running. Should be all krausen-y when you get home from work (or get out of bed tonight, or whatever it is you do - I dunno, no judgey). My personal preference is to keep US05 below 20C but that's me - I'm sure she'll be fine.

[EDIT: board ate my paragraphs]

 

[Troy294]

I have a heap of small little gas bubble ( assume that ) ticking over . I Sanitised the cup yeast was in and the yeast came straight from fridge . It basically nearly doubled in size then I put it in as advised by home brew shop .
Never used this yeast before as this is my second brew and first one was the packet yeast provided with the coopers Tins . Still sitting on 22 which I think is good .its coopers lager .