Yeast not starting?

[BlackRifle]

We're brewing a Citra IPA and fermenting at 67 degrees. The wort came into the fermenter at about 68 degrees...

We used WYEAST direct pitch and its now been 2 days with no activity. We are using a conical fermenter and there's about 3-4 gallons of headspace, so I'm wondering if maybe theres just too much height there for it to foam out of the air lock....??? Maybe it is working?

Also, we messed up and forgot to aerate the wort on its way to the fermenter, excitement got the best of us I suppose....

Thoughts on where to go from here?

 

[MrAverageGuy]

Did you make a starter? What yeast strain did you use?

 

[BlackRifle]

Did you make a starter? What yeast strain did you use?

This was a direct pitch activator pack, 1028 London Ale.

 

[RM-MN]

We're brewing a Citra IPA and fermenting at 67 degrees. The wort came into the fermenter at about 68 degrees...

We used WYEAST direct pitch and its now been 2 days with no activity. We are using a conical fermenter and there's about 3-4 gallons of headspace, so I'm wondering if maybe theres just too much height there for it to foam out of the air lock....??? Maybe it is working?

Also, we messed up and forgot to aerate the wort on its way to the fermenter, excitement got the best of us I suppose....

Thoughts on where to go from here?

Sure! Open the fermenter and look for a krausen ring above the beer. If you have it, your beer is fermenting. If it is missing, you may have forgotten to pitch the yeast.

 

[kristiismean]

Did the Wyeast packed inflate as it's supposed to do? (get big and round?) and if not, you may have not popped the yeast packet, and poured only nutrient in...

I Had it happen to a friend. but he caught it, and pitched the yeast directly in, and it managed to take off. which is a good thing, and I learned my lesson from that.

 

[BlackRifle]

Did the Wyeast packed inflate as it's supposed to do? (get big and round?) and if not, you may have not popped the yeast packet, and poured only nutrient in...

I Had it happen to a friend. but he caught it, and pitched the yeast directly in, and it managed to take off. which is a good thing, and I learned my lesson from that.

The bag didn't inflate a whole bunch, but the directions said that this wasn't necessarily a bad thing. We made sure the nutrient packet popped as well...

 

[kristiismean]

yeah, I had it mixed up. yeast free, nutrient pack needs popping. either way, .... I always let them bloat up nice and big. usually happens within 2 hours.

 

[BlackRifle]

So, we're getting some advise to put the heat up from 67 to 70-72 and if/when we see some activity, then turn it back down to 67... If nothing happens on the 5th day from original pitch, we will re-pitch.

Edit to add: Checked it tonight when I got home and now there's some activity. Some bubbling out of the air lock.