First Brew Advice(no fermentation)

[BedtimeBrewer]

I got one of the NB starter kits being repackaged at man crates, and just tried using it for first time. The brew day went ok with two exceptions(broken thermometer, cooled too slowly), but 40 hours later I see no signs of fermentation.

Initially I was optimistic as the room the bucket is sitting in smelled yeasty the following morning but I see no rise in the temperature of the brew or rise in the foam. I checked visually after 36 hours by peeking in the lid, it smells amazing.

The majority opinion seems to be to wait 48 hours before doing anything so I can do that. Any advice if nothing happens by tomorrow(60-72 hours)? Pitch another pouch of yeast(dry us05)? Let it ride?

A few other tidbits. The kit itself is IPA with 9.5 lbs of extract and 4 hops pouches of hops. The extract dissolved completely so this is a heavy batch, I had a dedicated stirrer on staff to avoid the scorching. The yeast was expired by 1 year, which I wasn't sure was a problems since it was stored cool. The water I did run through a brita, which I have come to find could be an issue, it was said that minerals in the water are good, which comes a surprise because our water tastes less than good IMO(it's a public top water/well blend I think). I like soft water to drink personally and think it tastes fine after a brita.

Any advice would be welcome and just wanted to register for the site, I expect to be here a while.

 

[JimRausch]

Hi BTB, and welcome!
We're going to want to know 3 things:
1. Did you take a specific gravity of your wort, in order to know what it started at.
2.What was the temp that you pitched the yeast into?
3. The year-old yeast- was it dry yeast or liquid? Dry- it was probably still fine. Liquid- it almost certainly was dead.
4. I guess Q4 should be what volume batch is this?
5. Damn, and Q5 what temp are you sitting at now?

 

[BedtimeBrewer]

Whoa, that was quick. The temp is a bit of a guess because the thermometer I had at my disposal due to breaking one right out of the package was for medical, but the best guess is mid- high seventies. I know when it went below 90 degrees but below that is a guess due to the range of the thermometer. I was cooling it in a 27 degree back porch and stirring frequently. It was just above room temp which was 70 when I pitched(us05 dry).

The batch is 5 gallon and sitting in a 66 degree room. The fermometer on the bucket says 68 but my gut tells me it's not accurate or the other thermometer I have to chcdk the room temp is not.

Don't know what the gravity was because there was no meter in the kit but that's on my short list. From what I'm reading some people suggest two packets in a high abv beer, I think this is supposed to come out around 10% so I guess grabbing another tomorrow will not hurt in either case.

 

[JimRausch]

I'm bored at work. What's your excuse?
Good answers to all. The temp at pitch was OK- you didn't kill the yeast. The fermenting temp is a bit high for me, but if anything that should help with fermentation by increasing metabolic processes. So, I think your plan of getting another pack of US05 tomorrow and adding that is a good idea. You might find that, by then, visible fermentation is going on. If that's the case, stick the new packet in the fridge for future use. And guess what- you're making beer, and that's always good!
By the way- relooking at your 1st post- you didn't hurt anything by using the Brita filter. Eventually, in the future you may play around with water salts and balances, but that's not necessary starting out, especially with an extract batch.

 

[BedtimeBrewer]

Well thanks, I'm just thinking out loud(and home with three kids six and under). The topics that have been covered online already is extensive. I didn't realize how big this community was until I started looking into it a few weeks ago. Water seems like a key to me, if you have bad tasting water I can't imagine that you will have great brew.

So I guess other than the expired yeast the only other potential mistake was too hot a pitch. I'll wait and see and buy the backup yeast.

 

[brew703]

I've never used yeast that was expired by one year. So if your yeast was expired that means your yeast was at least 2+ yrs old. I'm wondering how the extract was. I don't brew extract but would assume there is an expiration date. The extract wouldn't prevent the wort from fermenting.
If you used US05, then you probably had some viable yeast cells but more than likely not enough to ferment. You could take a gravity reading using a hydrometer and that would give you an idea where you are. But I would do as Jim said and pitch another package of yeast ASAP.

 

[BedtimeBrewer]

yeah, that's a good point. I don't know if the extract expired. I just checked the packaging which is in the recycle bin and no date stamp, just a batch number. Everything smelled good. It was bought December 2017 and the yeast had a Jan 2018 stamp on it so they were apparently shipping near expired yeast. Not really cool but I guess it was the reseller shipping and not NB because it wasn't in and NB box.

 

[brewhaus88]

I wouldnt worry too much about the age of the extract. While it would impact OG it would still make enough sugars for the yeast to consume and make a decent beer. Water is not really an issue with extract as you are adding in the sugars directly. Water chemistry really only pertains to all-grain brews as different flavors could be extracted out of the grain if the chemistry isn't right. Anyways I digress from the point, as most of the others have said a mix of your yeast being old and a high pitching temp. Try pitching a dry yeast package and see how that goes.

 

[RM-MN]

In the future if you plan to keep brewing with extract you might be well off to go to a grocery store and purchase Reverse Osmosis water for your brewing. It isn't very expensive and it has almost no minerals in it. That makes it ideal for extract brewing since the extract itself would have had the right mineral content.

If you decide to go all grain, buying "spring water" will get you a reasonable mineral content water for brewing. As you become more comfortable with it you will probably want to explore using the reverse osmosis water and adding minerals to it to get the exact mineral makeup for the beer you want to brew.

 

[BedtimeBrewer]

ok, in business now. 40 or so hours to get going. Took a peek and there is a nice head that formed. Will leave it covered for a week or so.

I do plan a few more extract brews moving on so I will keep it in mind. Thanks.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

ok, in business now. 40 or so hours to get going. Took a peek and there is a nice head that formed. Will leave it covered for a week or so.

I don't feel like I do anything crazy special, but I typically have a very active fermentation 24 hour after pitching (and often solid fermentation signs in 12 hours). 40 hours is a long time. I oxygenate my wort using an aquarium pump system. I don't hydrate or make a starter with dried yeast, but I make a starter with Wyeast or White Labs liquid yeast and I often pitch harvested yeast slurry. I brewed a batch a few months ago with a packet of S-04 I purchased 2 years prior and it was 1 year past it's "best by" date, and it fermented fine (it was stored in my fridge for the 2 years). I recently had an unexpected brew day, where I pitched a pack of Yeast Labs 0 01 without making a stater, and it fermented fine.

I guess I feel like if you are not getting at least solid signs of fermentation in 24 hours, there is something in your process you need to improve on. I am not saying this in a mean way, but I feel like yeast health/fermentation is right up there with sanitation as a core of making good beer.

Edit: Note that the above was written more as general advice on the importance of yeast and fermentation. In this instance...a new homebrewer using an old kit with yeast that may not have been stored correctly...it sounds more like a learning experience. I would not be surprised if this batch had some off flavors from stressed yeast, but hopefully it will turn out well.

 

[Zambezi Special]

I am not hindered by too much knowledge, but anyway...
Glad the process is on the way.

I initially was going to say that if it smells good, it probably is good.
The fermenting vessel might not be 100% closed (a small leak somewhere), or if you use a big fermenting vessel with a small amount of liquid, it will take a bit longer to see the bubbles in the waterlock.

Depending on how the yeast was stored, it can be good for a long time after the expiry date (I throw bread yeast in the freezer and use it years later), but I would then make a yeast starter to make sure (I do not have shops around the corner.....)

 

[65C]

The biggest things I learned from brewing over what I read about brewing before I started is that:

1. beer/yeast etc. seem a lot more tolerant of things than I expected - like use-by dates on yeast packets or re-using yeast cakes (one yeast cake I've used a dozen or more times without any intervention and it's as good as new)

2. whilst it's important to be clean etc. especially after cooling you just need to be careful with common sense sanitising and not go over the top

3. time seems to fix most things - a slow yeast will eventually get going - a beer that doesn't taste great after a month usually tastes a lot better in a year

The only real issues I've had are from overheating yeasts where they have been too active too fast and beer has come out tasting like bananas - now I do the first month in a cheap fridge I picked up

 

[BedtimeBrewer]

Still no activity in the bubble lock so this bucket does not seal.

I now suspect there was “activity” all along but nothing visible. How long does it take before you see Krausen? That took 40+ hours but according to some very imprecise instruments the brew was sitting 2+ degrees above ambient the whole time so I think the yeast was working.

And yeah, the majority opinion that I found online said it’s fine and pitch it despite the age.

This Am the fermometer popped up to 72, +6 from ambient so I dropped an ice pack in the bin holding the bucket.

 

[brew703]

If you feel your bucket isnt sealing, you can tape the lid down with duck tape.
If you are using a bucket you get from the HBS then those should seal tight. if you are using a bucket from a grocery store, like the ones from the bakery dept then those do not seal and you will need to use tape to hold the lid in place and create a good seal.
I have used both but now use a SSBT bucket fermenter.

BTW, if you are going to be brewing more beer, you might want to think about getting kits from your HBS or an online retailer like Northern Brewer. The items will probably be fresher and cheaper.

 

[BedtimeBrewer]

It is a northern brewer bucket. I searched around and it’s apparently not uncommon for them to not seal. I could Saran rap the lip but a lot of what I read is it’s not a problem.

 

[BedtimeBrewer]

The verdict is in on my first brew. No fermentation problems with the yeast apparently. After three weeks in the bottle I checked, and the gravity is 1.021. I let a sample go flat and warm up which is pictured. Appears to be a common number with extracts and dry yeast.

The beer is somehow both too sweet and too bitter. The bitterness I can correct with a chiller I think. Also caught a fairly wicked headache after three of them have to consume sparingly.