Stuck Fermentation

[WeaselEstateBrewery]

Hi - I recently (Wednesday) brewed my first all-grain, a pilsener. After reading infinite articles, forums and books about AG brewing I stumbled through the processand made a few mistakes, notably:

- not enough water as i only ended up with 17 litres. i have since read lots of articles on this and know how to fix it (use more water!).
- I didn't take an OG reading.

But the main thing is that it looks like fermentation never started. I cooled the wort down - overnight as I don't have a chiller yet - to 19 degrees before pitching the Safale lager yeast. I then cooled it down to 11 degrees in my temperature controlled fridge. There is no bubbling in the airlock but more importantly the gravity reading is 1040 (first one taken this morning; as mentioned above in my all-grain excitement I forgot to take an OG reading).

I have done plenty of extract brews but they have all been ales, so I am not sure if this is normal for cooler fermenting lagers. Should I be concerned at this stage?

 

[Effect]

How long has it been since you pitched the yeast?

Fermentation can take up to 72 hours to start mate...

 

[WeaselEstateBrewery]

Wow, had hardly hit "send" before my first reply came in

I pitched the yeast on Thursday morning (so that was only about 72 hours ago). It may be that I am used to the quick activation of ale yeast.

 

[Screwtop]

Hurry up and Wait :lol:

 

[Frank]

It may be that I am used to the quick activation of ale yeast.

Are you using an ale yeast or lager yeast?

 

[Effect]

Are you using an ale yeast or lager yeast?

safale lager yeast

 

[WeaselEstateBrewery]

Are you using an ale yeast or lager yeast?

Using lager yeast. This is a first for me so I guess i am not sure whether this is correct behaviour for a lager yeast - suppose it's logical given that I am fermenting at a lower temperature.

 

[WeaselEstateBrewery]

....my beer is not yet fermenting, no change in hydrometer reading - 5 and a half days later. I even increased the temperature from 11 degrees to 18 degrees last night hoping that this would kick it off.

Is fermentation likely to start? Am I best to tip this one down the sink and start again?

 

[itguy1953]

....my beer is not yet fermenting, no change in hydrometer reading - 5 and a half days later. I even increased the temperature from 11 degrees to 18 degrees last night hoping that this would kick it off.

Is fermentation likely to start? Am I best to tip this one down the sink and start again?

Sounds like you had a dud packet of yeast. I would recommend keeping the brew at 18-20 degC and pitching an ale yeast into it at this stage before the brew starts to go off. You will need to get fermentation happening quickly before any bacteria have time to breed up and spoil the brew. Alcohol will kill them off, but you need this quickly.

In future, you can check the viability of a yeast by re-hydrating it in some cooled boiled water. Once the yeast starts to get active, you can pitch it. If no activity, grab a standby yeast. Maybe you should rehydrate your ale yeast now before you pitch it.

I always keep spare yeast packs from kits and store them in the fridge, just in case I run out of the good stuff, and need to pitch yeast asap. The kit yeast are not as good as the premium yeasts, but they are a good standby, and can be more tolerant of higher temps in the fermentation process.

Barry

 

[WeaselEstateBrewery]

Thanks Barry - yeah I think the learning opportunity for me is to hydrate the yeast prior, especially with lager yeast!

BTW In the last 30 minutes or so I have been reading other forum entries; I just now checked the lid and it has condensation, then I opened it and had a peak - there is definitely lots of foam action on the surface, so maybe fermentation did kicked in when I lowered the temp?

Maybe the SG change was negligable and it's actually working; what's the best way to confirm this? And if it is should I re-lower the temp? I should also point out that I am not reknowned for my patience :huh:

 

[itguy1953]

Thanks Barry - yeah I think the learning opportunity for me is to hydrate the yeast prior, especially with lager yeast!

BTW In the last 30 minutes or so I have been reading other forum entries; I just now checked the lid and it has condensation, then I opened it and had a peak - there is definitely lots of foam action on the surface, so maybe fermentation did kicked in when I lowered the temp?

Maybe the SG change was negligable and it's actually working; what's the best way to confirm this? And if it is should I re-lower the temp? I should also point out that I am not reknowned for my patience :huh:

If you have lots of foam action, it sounds like the increase in temp has kicked off the yeast. You have probably under-pitched the yeast (ie. only a small amount of the yeast might have been viable) as it has taken a long time to fire up.

If you have another lager yeast available, then rehydrate this, or you could even rehydrate an ale yeast and mix this in.

If you have a second lager yeast, then rehydrate, pitch and chill, as lager yeast tend to give off funny tastes if they are fermented to warm. Get the temp down to 10degC and let it go for 2 weeks. You cannot push a lager yeast.

If you mix in an ale yeast, drop the temp to 16degC, which is at the top end of the lager range, and the bottom end of the ale range. You should not get to many funky flavours from either yeast at this temp, but the brew will not be a clean as a lager brewed at 10degC.

BTW, have you got a good seal in the fermenter? I always test my seal out when I pitch the yeast by squeezing the fermenter and seeing if bubbles come out of the air lock. If no bubbles, then I try and tighten the lid and see if this works, and if not, I open up the fermenter and remove the rubber ring, and put it in loosely and then tighten up the fermenter lid again. If you get a good seal on the fermenter lid, then you can tell if fermentation is happening from the bubbles in the air lock.

Barry

 

[buttersd70]

Just as an afterthought, as to why it was so slow going off.....did you remember to aerate the wort after chilling? h34r: You wouldn't be the first person to NC in the fermenter, then forget to aerate....

 

[WeaselEstateBrewery]

Barry - yes the fermenter seals very well, the slightest depression on the lid moves the water in the airlock (and this is no exception).

I ended up pouring this one down the sink - aside from the no-fermentation, when I poured my SG sample, out came a green sludgy substance - I poured the entire contents of the pot into the fermenter. I'll put this down to a learning opportunity and try again! Thanks for the tips though, i've taken lots of notes for my next brew.

buttersd70 - I did aerate a bit but maybe not enough, and I didnt hydrate the yeast before I put it in.

Thanks all for your tips and advice! I will be sure to report the success of my next brew.

 

[razE]

Stevo have a look at this link too, i stumbled across it somewhere here on ahb if i remember correctly. I found it to be easy to read with nice pictures and it really helped me along. From the sounds of it, it was a dud yeast but this was a good read for me just finishing my first AG and maybe you will get something out of it!http://www.beerdude.com/howto_brew_allgrain.shtml

 

[muckanic]

I personally think that flicking a packet of yeast (whether dried or liquid) into lager-temperature wort is like playing Russian roulette.