just a curiosity I'm making my own version of a winter warmer heavy on the spice and heavy on the alcohol O.G 1.081 WLP-004 red ale yeast it's been almost 32 hours since yeast addition and I'm just seeing the Krausen form no bubble production yet temp is at a steady 72 should I up the heat . Why would it take so long for fermentation to ensue should I let it go or re pitch?
32 hours before yeast started
- Thread starter JoeDFH
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I'd be careful with the temp as 72 is above the recommended temp for this yeast - WL says 65-68. You may get some odd flavors. You don't mention how much yeast you used or how you prepared it. My thoughts are at that gravity you needed at least two vials, and/or used a large sarter or two-stage starter. If you didn't have enough yeast to start, you should pitch more to get it going.
One vial in 5 gallons of 1.081 wort is WAY underpitching. You really should've done a starter or used a couple packs of dry yeast. This is definitely the reason you're not seeing much activity. It will be a very slow start because the yeast are struggling to increase their population to a size that can handle that wort. Using a pitching calculator like this, http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html, is highly recommended. At this point though, the yeast are probably almost done in the lag phase so I would think adding more yeast now would not help much.
Also, you need to cool it down; definitely don't heat it up! 72 is too warm for that yeast (and almost all yeasts). Like prandlesc said, you should be in the 65-68 range. And remember that fermentation produces heat, so your internal beer temp can be something like 8 degrees hotter than ambient temperature. At 72 you will probably get some weird off flavors and possibly more higher alcohols that will create harsh alcohol flavors and give bad hangovers.
