[John Shelton]

New to brewing and have a question on fermentation.

Brewed an amber altbier yesterday, cooled wort to 70° and racked into my glass carboy.  OG was 1.055 and I used 2 packs of WL029 PurePitch yeast per White Lab's instructions.  Yeast packs had a May 2020 date.

Everything seems to have settled to the bottom, as there is about an inch of trub.  Checked gravity today, and it has not changed - still sitting at 1.055.  Wort temperature has remained a constant 68-70°.  Plug and airlock are tight.

Gave it a good swirl to try and rejuvenate the yeast, but nothing yet. 

Any recommendations on how to save the batch is appreciated.

[denny]

Nothing to save at this point because everything is normal so far.  Just be patient.

[John Shelton]

Thanks Denny.  Will be patient.

[ynotbrusum]

Definitely give it some more time.  It is possible that the yeast was mishandled and is not alive, but I seriously doubt it.  One thing more - you may want to keep the temperatures down for the next few days - using a laundry tub with cool water and frozen water bottles will help keep temperature under control.  Typically, the fermenting wort will raise the temperature of the liquid by 8-10 degrees without some sort of temperature control.

Cheers!

[John Shelton]

Ynotbrusum -

I can easily move the carboy to a cooler room (62° or so).  Thought I needed to keep it closer to pitching temps until fermentation started.  Thanks for tour response.

[majorvices]

Probably best to just leave it and move it to a cooler room once you see activity. Give it a full 48-72 hours if no fermentation still you should put in some dry yeast. Continue to shake the carboy to introduce o2. Yeast need good healthy aeration at the beginning to have a healthy fermentation. Once fermentation starts 70 degrees will be too warm for most strains so move to cooler room.

[John Shelton]

Majorvices -

Many thanks for your input!

[denny]

Probably best to just leave it and move it to a cooler room once you see activity. Give it a full 48-72 hours if no fermentation still you should put in some dry yeast. Continue to shake the carboy to introduce o2. Yeast need good healthy aeration at the beginning to have a healthy fermentation. Once fermentation starts 70 degrees will be too warm for most strains so move to cooler room.

I say move it now.

[ynotbrusum]

Hard to say for sure, but once that mass gets warm, ambient at 62 may not move the temperature of the fermenting wort a whole lot...

[BrewBama]

Please be extremely careful when moving a glass carboy. Wear protective gear if you can. I’ve seen horrific accidents involving glass carboys. They are ticking time bombs.  The question is not if but when it will break.

Hard to say for sure, but once that mass gets warm, ambient at 62 may not move the temperature of the fermenting wort a whole lot...

+1. I think you will need to keep the fermenter cool once things get going.

...Give it a full 48-72 hours if no fermentation still you should put in some dry yeast. ...

Isn’t it interesting that I’ve never seen anyone advise to keep liquid yeast on hand in case dry yeast doesn’t work. If you do add dry yeast, K-97 is a dry version of 1007 (Zum Uerige Alt yeast).

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[majorvices]

Probably best to just leave it and move it to a cooler room once you see activity. Give it a full 48-72 hours if no fermentation still you should put in some dry yeast. Continue to shake the carboy to introduce o2. Yeast need good healthy aeration at the beginning to have a healthy fermentation. Once fermentation starts 70 degrees will be too warm for most strains so move to cooler room.

I say move it now.

Worried that dropping temp may further increase lag is all.

[John Shelton]

And we're off!  Came home last night to a foamy head and rolling yeast.  Temp is now hovering around 64-66°.

Thanks all for your feedback. 

[denny]

Probably best to just leave it and move it to a cooler room once you see activity. Give it a full 48-72 hours if no fermentation still you should put in some dry yeast. Continue to shake the carboy to introduce o2. Yeast need good healthy aeration at the beginning to have a healthy fermentation. Once fermentation starts 70 degrees will be too warm for most strains so move to cooler room.

I say move it now.

Worried that dropping temp may further increase lag is all.

I understand, but that's not much of a drop.  Based on my experience it shouldn't be an issue.

[Slowbrew]

And we're off!  Came home last night to a foamy head and rolling yeast.  Temp is now hovering around 64-66°.

Thanks all for your feedback.

I'm happy to hear it took off.  Some just take longer than others now and then. 
Brewing has taught me a lot about patience.  I just hope I learned some it before I screwed up all my kids.  (Sorry Mike.) 

Paul

[BrewBama]

 


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