sad day indeed

[FearKnowBeer]

Last weekend I made my first all grain.

Boiled down for 60 minutes to 5 gallons. Hit gravity right on the head. 1.052

Pitched yeast at 72.

Placed into my fermentation bucket, and I had no activity for 6 days.

Thought I would check the gravity to see if I need to re pitch. I have a small furry item floating in my brew. Gravity is still 1.052. My wife the science teacher/lab tech said we would not be able to drink this one.

I sterilized everything, or so I thought! My bigger question is this if the yeast had done its job would this brew have made it or would I still have an issue? I will never pitch dry yeast again. I'm gonna bloom it in boiled water to make sure something is alive in there.

 

[krackin]

Aeration?

 

[granddeity]

Was the yeast old? That could have caused the issue, and dry yeast should always be rehydrated before pitching.

Yeast will generally help keep other nasties from growing, so the beer likely would have been fine if the yeast had been good.

I do want to point out that there are very few things that grow in beer that are harmful. The vast majority just affect taste. I would have repitched and seen what happens.

 

[aiptasia]

It still might be salvageable. Skim off any floaties and re-pitch with fresher yeast. In answer to your question, you Sanitized everything but didn't sterilize anything. Sanitizing means that you cleaned your equipment and wiped out as many bugs as you could have given the sanitizers you were working with. Sanitizing isn't the same as sterilizing, which is a process of wiping out absolutely everything living that's on your equipment or comes into contact with your wort.

Brewing is more about good sanitizing instead of sterilizing because sterilizing is nearly impossible outside of a sterile lab. A homebrewer's kitchen, garage, or backyard aren't sterile environments as there's too many variables to control. Even professional breweries can and do harbor contaminants that can potentially infect wort.

By sanitizing your equipment and your wort by boiling it, you drastically reduce these outside infectious agents. By pitching vigorous, healthy yeast into sanitized wort in a sanitized fermenter, you're giving the yeast the opportunity to "infect" the wort and outcompete any other bacteria, wild yeasts, fungus spores or other bugs. It's not that they aren't in the wort, it's that the yeast dominates the wort and outcompetes them for available nutrients. As the yeast pee alcohols, consume free O2 and fart CO2, they kill off other bugs. Many bugs aren't alcohol tolerant at all, and are wiped out by the yeast. Some bugs can't survive without oxygen and the lack of free oxygen creates an anoxic environment and they die off.

So, it's all about giving the yeast the best possible environment to reproduce rapidly and dominate the wort before other bugs get a grip on your wort.

 

[Pappers_]

So sorry this happened on your first all-grain batch - that just seems unfair Get back up and do it again. I've never had dry yeast not take off. What kind of dry yeast was it?

And just to check, you've made extract batches before and fermentation took off?

 

[FearKnowBeer]

I think I'm gonna eat the 20 dollars and not waste trying to drink it. Brew buddy and I are going to start over next week. Our first batch should be ready to drink next weekend.

When I bloom yeast for bread I just use water. Obviously for cleanliness I have to boil the water cover and bring to around 80-90 then hydrate the yeast. Should I add anything to give the yeast a head start???

 

[Britinusa]

Deleted! posted in wrong place.

 

[Chattan]

I think I'm gonna eat the 20 dollars and not waste trying to drink it. Brew buddy and I are going to start over next week. Our first batch should be ready to drink next weekend.

When I bloom yeast for bread I just use water. Obviously for cleanliness I have to boil the water cover and bring to around 80-90 then hydrate the yeast. Should I add anything to give the yeast a head start???

I always use a starter of about 1 liter. I usually try to start the yeast in a 1.040 gravity of DME (1/2 cup)and water (1 pint) on a stir plate about 4 days before brew day. I then repeat the process until I have about 1 liter to 1.2 liters. It still takes a day before the yeast really start fermenting in the primary.

 

[Malric]

You generally do not want a starter for dry yeast, but you can 'proof' it with a little sugar after rehydration.

 

[masskrug]

Scoop out the white furry thing, re-pitch new yeast and see what happens

 

[Butchv12]

Agreed --- it's worth a 4 dollar package of yeast to try and salvage it.

 

[FearKnowBeer]

Hmmmm yeah well. I went to dump said batch with the furry thing in it and .....

It was bubbling like crazy out the air lock. I open up and I have a thick layer of kraussen (spelling). A week and one day after pitching yeast and now it has decided to go.

I think I will give it until next week and transfer to my secondary as originally planned. Did I have a poor batch of yeast and it took a while to get going? That is my theory.

 

[DrunkleJon]

possible unintentional slightly sour. let it do its thing. It will still be beer.

 

[kombat]

Aeration?

He said DRY yeast.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

He said DRY yeast.

And?

 

[kombat]

And?

... and you don't need to aerate for dry yeast.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

... and you don't need to aerate for dry yeast.

I've read that too, but I've also read (and seen in my own brewhouse) that aerating with any yeast is a good way to go. I'm aware that a scientist at Lallemand says you don't need to aerate when using their yeast, but that's really about the extent of that, and I've found that I get much better results when I aerate, regardless of what yeast I'm using.

 

[kombat]

I've read that too, but I've also read (and seen in my own brewhouse) that aerating with any yeast is a good way to go. I'm aware that a scientist at Lallemand says you don't need to aerate when using their yeast, but that's really about the extent of that, and I've found that I get much better results when I aerate, regardless of what yeast I'm using.

I still try to work up a nice, frothy foam when transferring from boil kettle to carboy when using dry yeast, but I only bust out the drill and Fizz-X for the liquid yeasts. I haven't had any problems. I've got a pale ale I brewed on Saturday with US-05 that was bubbling away nicely within 24 hours and has a nice, healthy krausen.

My point was that lack of aeration was almost certainly not the OP's problem in explaining why his fermentation still hadn't taken off after 6 days.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

My point was that lack of aeration was almost certainly not the OP's problem in explaining why his fermentation still hadn't taken off after 6 days.

Definitely not. Sounds like old or mishandled yeast that just took it's time to get up and go. The "furry thing" was the main clue, being that it was likely a colony of reproducing sacch getting ready to go bonkers.

 

[FearKnowBeer]

We poured the wort back and forth twice I read about this in learn to brew.

 

[Chattan]

We poured the wort back and forth twice I read about this in learn to brew.

Sounds to me that the wort was sitting too long before the yeast took to doing what it does best, ferment. Hopefully, that furry thing will die a quick demise.