Sluggish Start - Aeration Question

[TrojanMan]

Batch is a honey brown ale, OG 1.065, specialty grains plus extract. 5-gallon batch, full-volume boil for 60 minutes. Chilled with immersion chiller to 85*F, transferred to carboy through funnel with some good splashing action in the bottom, then shaken appx. 30 seconds.

WYeast London Ale smack-pack, fully inflated, pitched at appx. 82-83*F.

No bubbles, no signs of fermentation, nothing at all over the past 48 hours.


My question is if this is an aeration problem. 30 seconds of agitation probably wasn't enough to disolve adequate oxygen into the wort and that's why I'm stuck, right?

Thing is, I've used the same procedure before (with White Labs' liquid cultures, though) and had no problems. I guess I just got lucky those times?

It's only been two days so I'm just going to wait a while longer but if I still don't get anything by day 5 or 6, I should just try to aerate again and re-pitch, right?

*sigh*

 

[Yooper]

I assume that you didn't make a starter for the yeast? Even with proper aeration, a liquid yeast can take up to 72 hours to show signs of fermentation. At this point, I'd suggest waiting it out for a while. Then, before repitching, check the SG. Sometimes I've had beers totally ferment out without any sign of fermentation at all. Not an airlock bubble, no signs of krausen, etc, and it's finished. So, before any aerating or anything, double check to make sure it really hasn't had any fermentation.

 

[TexLaw]

Yeah, you may have gotten lucky with those other beers, or you could have hit right with other variables. You could have had fresher yeast, a lower OG, a more fermentable wort, a yeast strain that is better at taking off, the proper moon phase, or any number of other things.

You can put all those things aside if you take 15-20 minutes a couple days before the big event and make a starter, and you'll get better beer on top of that.


TL

 

[TrojanMan]

Well, looks like there was nothing to worry about after all. This sucker took off this afternoon (very late on day 2) with some very rapid fermentation. No apparent problems with a moderate amount of blow-off (glad I left everything set up as normal!).

I thought the smack-packs "counted" as a starter but even after a full swell on the pack (I hit it the day before), there was still some considerable lag. I guess a starter is the way to go regardless of what you're using.

Next batch (hopefully next weekend) I'll work up a starter with some DME and a hop pellet or two and see how that plays out. I'll put my previous success up to luck and make a little more effort next batch.

Thanks for the help.