Fermentation can take 24 to 72 hrs to show visible signs.

Reading the directions on the packet of Windsor Ale Yeast that I used last night for my Pale Ale, I rehydrated in 4 ozs of H2O for 15-30 minutes. Then I took a couple of tbls of cooled wort (80-85 deg) and added to the starter. After an hour or so there was some strong activity in the starter! I then pitched it in the aerated wort and sealed the primary. 20 hours later there is vigorous activity and bubbling at a rate of 7-8/5 sec!

The porter I had just bottled was less active and bubbled about 3-4/5 sec at it's peak. I doubt the rate of bubbling is an indication of anything as different yeast strains behave differently, but I am excited with the current level!

This is what it looked like under the lid. The pic was taken 48 hours after I added the yeast. Does it look right? Or do I need to do something to fix it?

The krausen ring indicates fermentation has taken place. Give it a few more DAYS then take a gravity reading.
A couple of questions :
what was the yeast pitched?
What was the ambient temp in the fermentation room?

Remember, the best way to make high quality beer is to control the fermenting temp and pitch adequate amount of healthy yeast. Any other questions, please ask. Welcome to the beer brewers club.

The yeast was the danstsr windsor ale dry yeast.
the temp of te room is 67 i believe.

I just checked it again, there are now bubbles coming from the airlock. I thought that was a Krausen ring, but I just wanted to make sure. I was just being paranoid. Thanks for all of the answered questions everyone!

67 seems a bit warm for that yeast. Remember, fermentation is exothermic, so the fermenting beer will be warmer than ambient temp. In future batches, you might consider trying to take that temp down a few degrees. Search swamp cooler for the least expensive way.

Anyway, congrats on the beer.

My APA (with an OG 1.056) is having trouble fermenting. I am stuck at 1.020, with a very rare (like every 10 minutes) airlock activity.

It has been 16 days in the primary.

The other day I gently stirred it, but did not help. The yeast is US-05.

Could you guys give me some suggessions on what to do?

Thanks.

tarikapak said:

My APA (with an OG 1.056) is having trouble fermenting. I am stuck at 1.020, with a very rare (like every 10 minutes) airlock activity.

It has been 16 days in the primary.

The other day I gently stirred it, but did not help. The yeast is US-05.

Could you guys give me some suggessions on what to do?

Thanks.

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tarikapak -- you probably will need to accept it for what it is. that happens sometimes with liquid malt extract

tarikapak said:

My APA (with an OG 1.056) is having trouble fermenting. I am stuck at 1.020, with a very rare (like every 10 minutes) airlock activity.

It has been 16 days in the primary.

The other day I gently stirred it, but did not help. The yeast is US-05

Could you guys give me some suggessions on what to do?

Thanks.

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What's the temperature?

@progmac: This is actually all grain

@Hugh_Jass: Always been around 70 degrees.

This is the first time I am having this problem, and I am about to dump this. Will give it another week to see what happens.

tarikapak said:

Could you guys give me some suggessions on what to do?

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Maybe your mash temps were a bit high and you've ended up with a fuller bodied beer due to more long chain sugars being produced in the mash.

How does your hydro sample taste??

If it's good, give it a few more days, take another hydro sample, if the SG is stable bottle away. If it's too sweet maybe consider making up a hop tea with the required bittering/flavour/aroma to balance it out, then bottle.

tarikapak said:

@progmac: This is actually all grain

@Hugh_Jass: Always been around 70 degrees.

This is the first time I am having this problem, and I am about to dump this. Will give it another week to see what happens.

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Don't dump it, please! That's alcohol abuse!!

It may not be spot on to what you'd hoped but the product should still be delicious (it is beer, after all) at that FG. Just sayin'...

tarikapak said:

@progmac: This is actually all grain

@Hugh_Jass: Always been around 70 degrees.

This is the first time I am having this problem, and I am about to dump this. Will give it another week to see what happens.

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I was able to take about two gravity points off a low-gravity beer by pitching half a pound of sugar in about an equal part water. Better, pitching on a fresh yeast cake from some other beer is easily the most effective way to get all you can get out of a fermentation. I was able to get five more points out of a high gravity beer doing this.

Did you mash high?

How does it taste? Could it be used to blend with a lighter, dryer beer?

I'll give it a few more days, and I'll bottle them per your suggession.

What bothers me is that it still had a 1 inch cake ( beautiful and clean) floating on top after two weeks. I disturbed and broke it into pieces while giving it a gentle stir. My plan was to wake the yeasts up :/ here is how it looked like:







Will keep here posted on the results

How long does it take for fermentation to start? After 72 hours and no signs of fermentation and if you are not sure if the yeast has worked or not take a hydrometer reading, or taste the beer. Fermentation appears to take a long time to start, but don’t worry because this will give you the opportunity to ensure that the yeast is working before you pitch it into your wort. That is all you need to ferment a beer.

phineascoates said:

How long does it take for fermentation to start? After 72 hours and no signs of fermentation and if you are not sure if the yeast has worked or not take a hydrometer reading, or taste the beer. Fermentation appears to take a long time to start, but don’t worry because this will give you the opportunity to ensure that the yeast is working before you pitch it into your wort. That is all you need to ferment a beer.

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Every post of this character's I've come across I can't for the life of me make head or tails of what they're writing. I have to ask. Is this some kind of advanced spambot :fro: or a real person using a (not particularly brilliant) translation tool to go from some other language into English?

I brewed a Brewers Best English Brown Ale kit yesterday, after cooling the wort and transferring to the fermentation bucket there was a layer of foam approximately 1/2 inch thick. When I pitched the yeast I sprinkled it over the entire surface of the foam, I didn't stir it after pitching because I was under the impression that that was a bad thing to do because of the risk of aerating the wort. Its been 18 hours now with no visible signs of fermentation. I'm mainly just curious to see if you guys think the yeast made it through the foam. Also, should I have stirred it after pitching? Thanks in advanced for any advice!

What was the temperature of the wort when the yeast was pitched?

What is the current temperature?

How do you know nothing is happening? Are you able to see the beer or are you gauging activity of the airlock?

The wort was 75°F when I pitched. Im not around to grab a temp right now but the room I have it in is about 66°F. There's no airlock activity and the layer of foam looks about the same as it did to start.

That foam is probably from aeration which is good. It should dissipate. I would not do anything now. If you don't see something after 2 - 2 1/2 days I would give it a very gentle stir. I would bet the yeast has or will get into the wort by itself.

kh54s10 said:

That foam is probably from aeration which is good. It should dissipate. I would not do anything now. If you don't see something after 2 - 2 1/2 days I would give it a very gentle stir. I would bet the yeast has or will get into the wort by itself.

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Alright, ill keep an eye on it. Was I correct to not stir it after I pitched? It seems like I've seen videos that have said to and some that have said not to.

MooseRider said:

Alright, ill keep an eye on it. Was I correct to not stir it after I pitched? It seems like I've seen videos that have said to and some that have said not to.

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You want to aerate your wort before you pitch, but I have forgotten before and done it after I pitched - not the next day "after", we are talking within an hour "after". Once the yeast start making alcohol, no more stirring.

A best-practices method would be to hydrate your yeast in a cup of 90F water for 30 minutes before you pitch it. The yeast go in healthier and they won't just sit on top.

You should also be doing something to aerate. Some people pour back and forth between 2 buckets. Some people hook a paint stirrer on their drill. I use an electric whisk for 5 minutes.

MooseRider said:

I brewed a Brewers Best English Brown Ale kit yesterday, after cooling the wort and transferring to the fermentation bucket there was a layer of foam approximately 1/2 inch thick. When I pitched the yeast I sprinkled it over the entire surface of the foam, I didn't stir it after pitching because I was under the impression that that was a bad thing to do because of the risk of aerating the wort. Its been 18 hours now with no visible signs of fermentation. I'm mainly just curious to see if you guys think the yeast made it through the foam. Also, should I have stirred it after pitching? Thanks in advanced for any advice!

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Update; My batch did start to ferment, but stopped just as quickly. On day three the airlock was bubbling about once every 30 seconds and an approximately 1 inch thick layer of krausen formed. On day 4 the airlock activity completely stopped and as of today (day 5) the krausen has gone away. Is this normal? I haven't take any gravity readings since the original. Im trying to follow the stay calm have another beer instructions but it's hard lol. Just wondering if you guys think I should give it a gentle stir. Thanks again for any advice.

MooseRider said:

Update; My batch did start to ferment, but stopped just as quickly. On day three the airlock was bubbling about once every 30 seconds and an approximately 1 inch thick layer of krausen formed. On day 4 the airlock activity completely stopped and as of today (day 5) the krausen has gone away. Is this normal? I haven't take any gravity readings since the original. Im trying to follow the stay calm have another beer instructions but it's hard lol. Just wondering if you guys think I should give it a gentle stir. Thanks again for any advice.

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sounds like a normal fermentation. it is done.

Ok newbie question here. I made my second attempt at a brew on Sunday. I made a Briess Bedford Brown Ale. I bought my supply's locally and brewed the batch according o the directions on the web site. First attempt using grain and hops as well as a yeast I needed to hydrate. The fermentation started Sunday night and was going good on Monday night. I checked the air lock on Tuesday and it was very slow almost none at all. Today I checked it and there is no movement at all. Is this normal? My last and first batch seemed to ferment for a longer time. Thanks for any advice.

Just because it isn't bubbling, doesn't mean it isn't fermenting. A hydrometer is a gauge. An airlock is just a vent.

There is a YouTube video of an airlock bubbling in an EMPTY bucket just because the air pressure was changing.

cwk229 said:

Ok newbie question here. I made my second attempt at a brew on Sunday. I made a Briess Bedford Brown Ale. I bought my supply's locally and brewed the batch according o the directions on the web site. First attempt using grain and hops as well as a yeast I needed to hydrate. The fermentation started Sunday night and was going good on Monday night. I checked the air lock on Tuesday and it was very slow almost none at all. Today I checked it and there is no movement at all. Is this normal? My last and first batch seemed to ferment for a longer time. Thanks for any advice.

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normal. done or nearly done.

Thanks for the reply. I did not want to open the bucket yet.

Hello all, newb here.

It's my 5th batch ever and I've used the wyeast a few times, it's been 24 and surprisingly not bubbling. I know to wait, it could take up to another day or so and I'll take a measurement then...but if it doesn't start, how long can it sit in the plastic bucket before going bad? It may take a few days to get more yeast, I just learned to buy a backup next time!

thanks.

I've got a stout in the carboy for 24 hours and my fermentation is chugging nicely with Saf-04! Love it!

Hi - I'm totally new to brewing and completed my first kit on Sunday. It's the Brewers Best American Amber. I followed the kit instructions step by step. I was worried because by Tuesday morning I still was not seeing any bubbling in the airlock. (I filled airlock half full of sanitizer water per the instructions and it has some bubbles on top of the sanitizer water that have been there since I filled half full). I put the fermenter bucket in a closet and it's been between 66 - 72 degrees. Yesterday I could notice the faint smell of my brew in the closet. Today I tapped the airlock with my finger because I was growing impatient and it's started bubbling! It bubbled most of the day slowly. Now tonight It's back to no activity. If I tap the airlock it's seems to bubble for awhile and then stop. The smell of the brew is getting very strong and starting to smell up my house (it smells great). Does this sound normal? Is there anything I can do to the airlock to make sure the bubbling stays active? Any suggestions for a newbie?

First, you have to realize that the airlock isn't making beer. The yeast is. Whether the airlock bubbles or not, the yeast are still going to do their thing.

Sounds like the fluid in your airlock may be a bit low but in the end it won't make any difference.

The more important issue I see is how happy are your yeast? If that closet is 72F, and they are working out, raising the beers temp to around 78F. That might be too warm for some yeast strains.

jfck2000 said:

Hi - I'm totally new to brewing and completed my first kit on Sunday. It's the Brewers Best American Amber. I followed the kit instructions step by step. I was worried because by Tuesday morning I still was not seeing any bubbling in the airlock. (I filled airlock half full of sanitizer water per the instructions and it has some bubbles on top of the sanitizer water that have been there since I filled half full). I put the fermenter bucket in a closet and it's been between 66 - 72 degrees. Yesterday I could notice the faint smell of my brew in the closet. Today I tapped the airlock with my finger because I was growing impatient and it's started bubbling! It bubbled most of the day slowly. Now tonight It's back to no activity. If I tap the airlock it's seems to bubble for awhile and then stop. The smell of the brew is getting very strong and starting to smell up my house (it smells great). Does this sound normal? Is there anything I can do to the airlock to make sure the bubbling stays active? Any suggestions for a newbie?

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Patience is your, and your beer's, friend.


Try to find out the ideal temperature range for the yeast you used and see if you can keep the temperature of the beer/fermenter close to the bottom end of that range. If you haven't already, try doing a search for "homebrew swamp cooler"

Buy another primary fermenter and set of ingredients and brew another batch, to help take your mind off your first batch, as it'll make it easier to leave it alone and allow it to attenuate and condition for the time the yeast requires to get the job done. At least two, but probably better to go for three, weeks.
On about day 17 you could take a sample to do a hydrometer test, then again a couple of days later and if the Specific Gravity reading is the same both times you're OK to bottle/package. Three weeks in bottles at around 70f should see the batch nicely carbed and then it's advisable to stick a bottle or two into the fridge for three days, allow the CO2 to get absorbed into solution, then pop one and try it.

first time i used liquid yeast. i didnt react as fast as i thought it would.

I also though letting the yeast swell meant, breaking the nutrient pack and keeping it in the fridge needless to say there was no swell and took 2 full days before i saw a slow bubble.

Everything said here about patience and not to go by the air lock is right on target. My first batch was an Irish Stout, the S style air lock never really moved for 72 hours. I decided to crack open and take a hydrometer reading, but once I peaked in side I was able to see that there was a nice krausen at one point which had settled back down. Everything smelled "ok" too so I decided to let it be. Not sure whether I'll let it sit in the leaky primary for two weeks like I planned or transfer off to a secondary. What's said many times in this thread about not going by the air lock activity was spot on advice.

I tried not to post here, honest I did. I relaxed, I didn't worry, and I had a homebrew but now it's been 72 hours and....

Not a single bubble in my airlock. My primary is a white bucket so I can't see if anything's happening in there. My batch is a 2.5 gallon partial-malt ESB using Wyeast London ESB 1968. I was told at the LHBS to use 1/2 packet in my 2 1/2 gallon batch. From talking to some others it seems that I should have used the whole packet. It also seems from reading this thread that at this point I should open it and take a reading, a couple friends told me definitely don't open the lid as I could introduce bacteria to the beer.

Sooo... should I open it and take a reading? I saved the other 1/2 of the yeast in a sterilized jar, should I add that?

Can't be absolutely certain but I've always assumed you shouldn't skimp when it comes to using liquid yeast, so I'd have used the whole pack. If the yeast has been sitting a while since production it's viability will have diminished some, so only pitching the half pack might have been, essentially, under-pitching.

I'd definitely sanitize the hell out of something to take a small sample to ascertain if any fermentation had occurred. And, if so, just let it run its course. If not, add the rest of the packet of yeast and see if that kicks off the party.

Actually, before I decided to take and measure a hydro sample I'd take a quick peek under the lid to see if there was any signs of a krausen developing. If there was I wouldn't bother with a hydro sample.

Ogri said:

Can't be absolutely certain but I've always assumed you shouldn't skimp when it comes to using liquid yeast, so I'd have used the whole pack. If the yeast has been sitting a while since production it's viability will have diminished some, so only pitching the half pack might have been, essentially, under-pitching.

I'd definitely sanitize the hell out of something to take a small sample to ascertain if any fermentation had occurred. And, if so, just let it run its course. If not, add the rest of the packet of yeast and see if that kicks off the party.

Actually, before I decided to take and measure a hydro sample I'd take a quick peek under the lid to see if there was any signs of a krausen developing. If there was I wouldn't bother with a hydro sample.

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Thanks. I peeked in and then sanitize the bejesus out of a Pyrex measuring cup and took a reading. If my calculations are right I had OG of 1.034 and currently at 1.014... so I guess it's been fermenting.

I pitched the rest of the yeast and sealed that sucker back up. I don't care how it turns out I'm gonna drink it with pride.

Erin606 said:

I have been using dry yeast the last 5 brews and I am anywhere between 12-15 hours each time. I am happy with that

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Guy's at the shop suggested liquid but it seems like most others prefer dry. Guess I'll have to do some experementin' to see what works for me.

A current SG reading of 1.014 says your beer is fermenting nicely. I don't think pitching the remainder of the pack will have harmed the beer in any way and, if your fermentation temps have been within the desired range, I'm sure your beer will be great.

Ogri said:

A current SG reading of 1.014 says your beer is fermenting nicely. I don't think pitching the remainder of the pack will have harmed the beer in any way and, if your fermentation temps have been within the desired range, I'm sure your beer will be great.

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Awesome, thanks again. It's been pretty solid around 74F in my house since I brewed, I believe that's a little on the high side. I read some info on making a swamp cooler and looks like I need to see about making that happen.