I brewed an extract White IPA last night and ran into a few issues. 1.) I was chilling the wort in an ice bath in my bathtub but noticed that half of the water had drained out of the tub when I stepped out for a minute. I had no more ice left and couldn't just run to the store to buy more because nothing was open around me so I just had to use cold salt treated water that I circulated every couple of minutes. Anyways, it took around an hour (maybe a little more) to cool the 5.75 gallons of wort. 2.) I ended up pitching an 11.5g dry yeast packet (I did not rehydrate) of Safeale US-05 at 75-76 degrees F because it was getting late and I had to be up early the next morning. The fermenter is now at a temp. of 67 degrees F with no visible signs of fermentation. 3.) My target OG was 1.060 but my hydrometer was reading 1.052 at 75 degrees F. I believe that this is due to the fact the I ended up with a 5.75 gallon batch size with a 5 gallon recipe. I boiled 6.5 gallons and anticipated a 1.5 gallon boil off but I was no where near that amount. Any opinions on my situation would be greatly appreciated!
1. While not ideal, taking longer to chill the wort will not ruin your beer. 2. Pitching at 76 then chilling to 67 is tough on the yeast. They like it warm and stable . . . you gave them warm then shifted gears with a 9 degree drop. It's possible they will not participate but lag times of ~18 hours are not uncommon. Also, by not rehydrating you have underpitched. Check out Fermentis' website for rehydration instructions, it's easy and you basically double your quantity. 3. 1.052@72 is 1.054 which isn't horribly off. This is all a part of dialing in your equipment/process. Next brew cycle you will have this new knowledge.
What is done is done,"no use crying over spilt milk" With that said, you pitched at a high temp, but it sounds like you are at a more reasonable temperature now. What do you mean by "no visible signs of fermentation"? Did you look in the bucket or are you looking for bubbles in the air lock? Air lock bubbles are not a good measure of active fermentation. 1.060 vs 1.052 is nothing to worry about especially with the larger volume, I did not put these numbers in a calculator, but the drop in gravity is likely just the larger volume.
I know that not rehydrating was a mistake and I planned on rehydrating the yeast in a cup of warm (95-100) degree water for 15 to 20 minutes and then 'proofing' it with a bit of sugar water (boiled and then cooled) but shit hit the fan once all of my ice water drained out of my tub. haha. I do have another packet of Safeale US-05 though. Would you recommend re-pitching with a re-hydrated pack if my lag time exceeds 48 hours?
RDWHAHB It may not be your best batch but it will still be beer. It may even be quite good. US-05 without rehydration will be a slow starter and dropping temp after pitching will slow it even more. I wouldn't expect to see signs of it kicking off for 36 hours. The more important thing is that you realize that the items you mention are mistakes in your process. Knowing that you can now work to avoid them next time and your beer will be even better.
By "no visible signs of fermentation" I mean that the airlock is showing no activity. I know that one fool proof way of determining fermentation activity is to take periodic gravity readings but I think I am going to wait a little while before I do that.
Would you recommend that I pitch another packet (rehydrated of course) if I do not notice activity within 36 hours?
You could pitch another packet if it helps your peace of mind but I wouldn't. I'm pretty confident it will kick off because nothing in the process you stated would kill the yeast.
What kind of fermentation vessel are you using? With a bottling bucket (or other opaque vessel), you won't be able to see the krausen forming and these types of vessels do not seal perfectly.
I am currently using a 6.5 gallon plastic bucket with a gasket installed lid and grommeted hole for the airlock. I've conducted multiple leak tests (i.e. filling halfway with water and turning upside down with the airlock hole covered) and it has passed each time. I understand that these buckets are not the most ideal vessels for fermentation but it gets the job done and is what I have to work with at the moment.
For this batch, I would wait and see what happens. There is a good chance that fermentation is occurring but there is a leak in the lid so no air lock activity. FWIW, don't feel bad about using a bucket, that is what a lot of us use. For the future, DON'T proof yeast with sugar water. If you want to rehydrate in warm water you can, but a lot of people just sprinkle the yeast on top. If you want to see a argument/discussion here, ask if it is necessary to rehydrate dry yeast
Proofing with sugar gets the yeast ready for sugar, not wort. Recent thoughts behind adding sugar to big beers is to do it while fermentation is in full swing, apparently yeast can fbe conditioned to ferment just simple sugars and will not ferment the more complex sugars.
What @wspscott & @SFACRKnight said ... you don't want to "sugar-water" your yeast. Also read the tech sheet on Fermentis' website, they recommend different temps than what you are suggesting. In the 30-45 minutes it takes to rehydrate you can easily see the yeasties spring back to an active status. It's okay for the I-never-rehydrate brewers to post here, just don't take their advice.
I understand. There is really nothing wrong with fermenting in a bucket. But they do have their nuances.
There's nothing wrong with using a bucket as a fermenter, but whether you use a bucket or a glass or plastic carboy, each has some pluses and minuses. I think StupidlyBrave was just pointing out that a bucket does not allow you to see what is going on inside, thus you almost have to rely upon your airlock (which isn't always reliable) or upon counting days when fermentation should be complete. If you could see inside your bucket you'd know how the fermentation is progressing because krausen bubbles would likely be present, and the trub in the wort would be churning around from all of the feeding frenzy of the yeast. Some of the most experienced homebrewers in this forum use buckets, and I'll take an educated guess that around half of us use them, so there is nothing wrong with using them. You just have to understand the pluses and minuses of each style of fermentor.
I am seeing a TON of activity from the airlock now. It started about 20-24 hours but now it is non-stop. Some of the sanitized water is starting to bubble up through the airlock a bit. I left about 6 or 7 inches of headspace in the fermentor. Do you guys think that i should put on a blow off tube?
If you don't see any hint of beer color in the airlock or in its stem, I think you'll be okay. The OG wasn't high enough to produce that much krausen to reach the airlock.
So here is an update. I took a gravity reading yesterday (day 11 of fermentation) when i opened up the fermentor to dry hop. The gravity was at 1.016 at 64 degrees F and everything looked fine. I tasted the sample out of the hydrometer and it tasted pretty good as well. I couldn't detect any major off flavors and the color/clarity was exactly what i would expect out of a White IPA. So far everything seems to be checking out fine. I am going to wait a few more days and hopefully I can reach a 1.014 FG.
