I'm a new brewer (brewing for a few months, three batches) and have had great success with my brews to date. Each of my brews have begun the exciting airlock bubbling within a couple hours. My most recent brew has not however. Its been locked sealed tight in the fermenting bucket for ~36 hours now and I'm starting to worry. I've read some threads describing the same situations and decided to pull off the lid to have a look inside. What I found was: 1) very strong smell similar to my previous brews prior to transferring into the bottling bucket. 2) lots of activity, tiny tiny bubbles continuously coming to the top of the brew inside the bucket. I resealed the lid and did a test for a good seal (pushed down on the center of the lid to push air out of the bucket, covered the airlock hole with my finger, and the lid remained collapsed in the center until I removed my finger, at which time the lid returned to its normal position as air was sucked in through to airlock hole). So I feel confident the seal is good. I've reinserted the airlock (~2 hours ago) and still no activity in the airlock. So my question is, is my beer gonna be ok? should I consider pitching more yeast? Or should I just chill out and see what happens? Thanks for any feedback/advice!
I've been brewing for a few years now and I'd say you could pitch more yeast. maybe the yeast u already pitched was old or who knows. Some yeasts take more time to "take off" then others. Maybe your fermentation temp is too cold. Could be a number of things
hold off on pitching more yeast. if you want, take a gravity reading but "small bubbles floating up" is what i assume to be CO2 being released. if there is a ring of residue around the top of the beer, fermentation began and ended between you checking on it.
Probably Probably not. But how much did you pitch? What's the batch sise? The Original Gravity? How did you aerate the wort? What yeast strain? What's the temperature of the wort? Provide more details and chill (yourself, not the wort) in the meantime. And take a gravity reading after one week total time in the fermenter if you're still worried.
Temperature is stable in the storage room ~23c/73f. OG 1.055, Saflager W34-70 dry yeast (I hydrated the yeast prior to use as per the instruction on the yeast sachet). 5 gallon batch (2.5 wort, 2.5 water). Aerated during transfer from brewing pot into bucket. Basically, I followed the same steps as I did with previous batches, but with slightly different ingredients. I used 6.6lb Sorghum liquid malt extract, 1lb Golden Candi Syrup and a total of 1.5oz. of Liberty Hops. Total boil time 1 hour, wort cooled outside in a the snow for ~45 minutes. Then I added to cooled wort to the bucket to mix with the hydrated yeast and previously boiled and cooled water to make up the full 5 gallons.
Hmmm. Isn't that a Lager Yeast? I was going to say your fermentation temp is a little high. (It was or is going to be higher than your storage room temp.) But for a lager yeast, it would be a lot high. But don't take my word for it...someone who uses more dry yeasts can chime in. Maybe it's a lager yeast that works well at ale temps. Beats me.
According to the Fermentis spec sheet for W-34/70: “Recommended fermentation temperature: 9C – 15C, ideally 12 C. So, according to Fermentis the warmest you should ferment with this yeast is 59°F (15°C). Cheers! Edit: the above information was from a spec sheet that I downloaded some time ago. The spec sheet on the website today states: “9-22°C (48.2-71.6°F) ideally 12-15°C (53.6-59°F)”. Apparently they updated to include a broader temperature range (but still retained the same “ideal” range).
This. . But to elaborate in more detail... Stop. Step away from the fermentation bucket. Do not attempt to mess with your beer again. At first I kept a paper bag handy to hyperventilate into whenever I brewed a batch. Now I don't even check it for at least two weeks*, not even to check for bubbling airlocks. Bubbling airlocks are poor indicators of anything, so the sooner you stop considering that as an indicator of anything the sooner you'll take one step closer to our ultimate goal of beer nirvana. *I don't even open the freezer at all** **I do assure that no asplosions will occur before closing lid of freezer
Thanks everyone! Very helpful information. I've moved my fermenter to a location better suited optimal fermenting temperature for the yeast I used. Not sure if its too late to safe this batch or not? But, at the least, I 'll know for the next brew thanks to you guys, wish me luck! And enjoy your brews!!
I haven't looked inside since I relocated it to a new area with a better temperature and never witnessed any action from the airlock. But I'll be looking in a few days to see if it's worth bottling. Not feeling too confident about this batch though.
Was there a krausen ring when you checked it the first time at 36 hours? A lager yeast at that high of a temperature may have finished its active stage by then (considering you observed "very strong smell" and "lots of activity" when you opened it). Thus, no airlock activity observed by you, which could have happened while you were sleeping. Disclaimer: I'm an ale guy, so I've never used lager yeast, but this makes sense to me. But, as mentioned before, a gravity check is the only real way to verify fermentation. Cheers
Breathe deep and relax, it will all turn out fine. Take a hydro reading in a few weeks. Even after your yeasties are done turning your wort into beer, they need time to clean up some of their own byproducts. This will make your beer smell and taste better.
