Couple of questions...

[IllusionOfTime]

So we brewed up up a red ale this sunday and everything went smoothly, and I've had the carboy sitting in the basement since Sunday evening. The problem is that fermentation has not yet started.

I am using a kit in which the dry yeast came and I used some water that I boiled for the wort (prior to adding any of the ingredtients), let it cool and then hydrated the yeast for about a half hour prior to pitching. Are my yeasties all dead...? I am thinking that I should add another packet just to be on the safe side and get this thing going...?

My other question is...

How imperitave is darkness during fermentation? I use the glass carboy's and they sit in my basement. There are windows but they are small, and it's not as if the carboy's are in the window or anything, they're just on the floor. I also tend to spend a good amount of time down there just because that's where the bar is, so the lights tend to be on several evenings during the week....

 

[Sea]

So we brewed up up a red ale this sunday and everything went smoothly, and I've had the carboy sitting in the basement since Sunday evening. The problem is that fermentation has not yet started.

I am using a kit in which the dry yeast came and I used some water that I boiled for the wort (prior to adding any of the ingredtients), let it cool and then hydrated the yeast for about a half hour prior to pitching. Are my yeasties all dead...? I am thinking that I should add another packet just to be on the safe side and get this thing going...?

My other question is...

How imperitave is darkness during fermentation? I use the glass carboy's and they sit in my basement. There are windows but they are small, and it's not as if the carboy's are in the window or anything, they're just on the floor. I also tend to spend a good amount of time down there just because that's where the bar is, so the lights tend to be on several evenings during the week....

Fermantation can take 72 hrs to start, so give it a little more time.

I'd still wrap a towel around the carboy, but I just don't like taking any risks with my beer.

 

[A4J]

Don't judge fermentation activity by the airlock.

There's a sticky here that says fermentation can take up to 72 hours to start and I've had one batch that took 4 days before anything happened.

As for the darkness, I can't say from personal experience I've seen people leave their carboys in their bedrooms.

 

[grasshopper1917]

I dont see why your yeast would be dead they should be ok - in the future if you use dry yeast - just chuck er right in the wort - atleast I find this the best way to do it.

Cheers

 

[Revvy]

I keep my fermenters in a dark closet, there's been some research posted around here that even, if I recall, incandescent and florescent lights MAY contribute to skunkage.

It's best to rehydrate dry yeast...it wakes them up from their long nap, and is less of a shock then being dumped into wort.

Remember the only way to judge fermentation activity is with a hydrometer NOT by airlock activity, I've posted the reasons why a billion times around here, so you can probably find it...And it does take up to 72 hours to kick in...

As long as you didn't dump your yeast into boiling water and kill them, you should be fine.

So...

 

[IllusionOfTime]

Ha ha ha...alright...I'll give it another day or so. The last one seemed to get itself off to such a quick and violent start, it just seems that there is some issue with this one. I'm only questioning because there has been absolutly NO activity in there, since sunday so it's been about 48 hours now, but I'll give it another day or so and see where we're at then. Thanks..

 

[Hikeon3]

another thing you might check on is whether or not your cap/bung is on tightly. I learned that my carboy cap is a useless piece of garbage when I had it on with my airlock and had a 5 inch krausen layer but no bubbles. Swapped the cap for a bung and whoooooo buddy! Bubbles like crazy!

 

[IllusionOfTime]

I'm pretty sure that the bung and airlock fit are alright, I've used them in the past with no problems... It was just that there is no change, what so ever, since I poured the wort into the fermentation carboy. It looks exactly the same now as it did sunday afternoon prior to pitching the yeast. I'm going to give it another 24-48 hours, and if there's still not any activity or the krausen later, I'm going to rehydrate some more yeast and re-pitch...

 

[ohiobrewtus]

It's unlikely that basment lighting would have anywhere near the impact on your beer as direct sunlight would, or have much of an impact at all, really. I also keep my fermenters in my basement and haven't had any issues.

I tend to agree with other posters in regards to your fermentation issue.