No fermentation action after 4 days

[Kook beer]

Hi All,

I did an all grain batch on Friday 13/3. No Chillied it, pitched yeast the following day at 17c.

The yeast was 2 packs of generic home brew store America ale yeast, no expiration date and one of the packs was slightly damaged.(LHBS had run out of US05). I know it was a bit dodgy but I didn’t want to leave it too long to pitch my yeast, so I pitched it.

So after 3 days I had no fermentation activity, I drove to another homebrew store to get a new pack of US05 to pitch, and pitched it on Monday 16/3.

Still no fermentation activity 24 hours after pitching the 2nd pack of yeast.

So this got me thinking

My efficiency on this batch was terrible, like 55%, I put that down to what looked like a bad grain crush from the homebrew store. But what if they actually got my grain order wrong?

My order was 3kg pale ale malt, 370gram Munich, 370 gram crystal 20.

What if they gave me 3kg of crystal 20?

Would this explain the terrible efficiency and lack of fermentation?

I did also think I got overcharged for the grain.

Let me know your thoughts.

 

[gap]

How are you checking it is not fermenting? Hydrometer or just no bubbling from airlock?

 

[mongey]

Og ? What’s current gravity ?

how big is your batch ? That’s not much grain

 

[Kook beer]

I have only checked by looking at the amount of co2 escaping, Fermenter is sealed with glad wrap.

OG was 1.038.

Batch size is only 17L

I suppose I should check the current gravity, but normally I would see the glad wrap bulging out with a strong smell of co2 in the fermentation fridge.

 

[mongey]

Co2 is odorless.
Gravity doesn’t lie. You may just have a little leak.

 

[JDW81]

Check the gravity. It’s the only sure fire way to check if you have fermentation.

I use gladwrap and it doesn’t always bulge during fermentation.

JD

 

[Kook beer]

Yeah these are valid points, I’ll check the gravity