[redrocker652002]

Started great. I was able to get my pot on the stove in the kitchen by sliding the stove away from the wall a bit. So, I am thinking I can hold the temp a bit better. So, my strike water is at about 160 for a mash temp of about 154, at least that is what I thought. I add the grains, and low and behold, my strike water doesn't change much. I got it down to about 155 or so within the first 10 mins of the mash, so I am hoping all is ok. I figure if my gravity is a bit low, I can mash a bit longer and see where I end up. So now, I wait. I have another 3 gallons at the ready for my sparge in a hope to get a preboil amount of somewhere around 7.5 gallons. I hope the higher mash temp for that short period did not screw things up, but I guess I will find out in about 3 weeks. LOL. Anyway, thanks to all who helped me so far in this journey, I am still finding that I am learning a lot. RR

[denny]

155 is not too high and will habe no effect on your OG. As long as you weren't over say 165 for 20 min or more, no problem.

[redrocker652002]

155 is not too high and will habe no effect on your OG. As long as you weren't over say 165 for 20 min or more, no problem.

Awesome!!!!!   Thank you for posting that.  I thought I screwed up.  No, it never got that high.  Maybe 160 for about 5 mins at the very start.  But, I am going to check the gravity here in a minute.  If it is too low, I can just mash a bit longer, right? 

[chinaski]

maybe mashing longer might eek out a few more gravity points.  Depends upon mash efficiency.  Don't worry about it until you have the mash done and a pre-boil volume and gravity measured.

[denny]

155 is not too high and will habe no effect on your OG. As long as you weren't over say 165 for 20 min or more, no problem.

Awesome!!!!!   Thank you for posting that.  I thought I screwed up.  No, it never got that high.  Maybe 160 for about 5 mins at the very start.  But, I am going to check the gravity here in a minute.  If it is too low, I can just mash a bit longer, right?

Yep. You can do that anyway any time you want a more fermentable wort.

[redrocker652002]

I have not updated this I guess.  The brew may be a bust.  I added my starter and saw absolutely no activity thru the airlock for about 5 days.  I opened the lid and saw no krausen or any kind of signs of fermenting.  Being me, I went to my LBS and grabbed another packet of yeast and threw it in on Friday thinking maybe I killed the yeast the first go around.  And, as of this morning, still nothing.  No bubbles no nothing .  I am a bit disappointed, but will let it run until friday or saturday and check the gravity to see.  I bought another kit and am going to put together my cooler mash tun and do some experimenting with it during the week.  I think, for now, dry yeast is my option until I can get the hang of liquid.  Another brew day will be next week, hopefully using my new mash tun and see how that goes.  I am a bit disappointed with this and am thinking of going back to extract brewing for a bit until I can get my process right.  Or scaling down to 2.5 gallons and use my stove top.  But either way, I am not gonna give it up.  I still enjoy the process, just hit a small bump in the road.  Thanks to all who replied.  RR

[denny]

Please don't take this wrong, but I'm stumped by your problems with liquid yeast. In all my years  ?  Of brewing I've never had it not work, especially after a starter. I just can't see what you're doing wrong. I may be as stumped and frustrated as you are!

[redrocker652002]

Please don't take this wrong, but I'm stumped by your problems with liquid yeast. In all my years  ?  Of brewing I've never had it not work, especially after a starter. I just can't see what you're doing wrong. I may be as stumped and frustrated as you are!

Thank you for the reply.  I really thought I had it nailed down, but for some reason it just isn't in the cards right now.  My brother did an extract kit and he just dumped the liquid yeast in it and boom, off it went.  I will admit, the Wyeast that I used, your fave I just cannot remember the number, went really well as well.  This is the first one that has not worked out.  So maybe it is something I did this time, although I did everything exactly the same as I have dine with all my other all grain batches  It was bound to happen, so it is what it is.  I bought a kit from Morebeer, so next weekend we try again.  This time, I am going to put together my mash tun and run a few tests and use it.  What the heck, I figure might as well give it a go.  If it doesn't work, I have a cooler for the beers I am making   LOL.

If I cannot get this all grain thing right, I might go back to extract for a bit and get my bearings straight, but I have brewed a few really good all grain, so I cannot see how my process has changed all that much.  Anyway, thanks for taking the time to post.  I appreciate it. 

[denny]

I assume you checked gravity so you could be absolutely certain that it hasn't fermented?

[ynotbrusum]

I have had a few quick and clean ferments that drop out quickly, leaving a thin krausen ring as the only evidence of fermentation - no airlock activity (assumed at the time that it was a leaky seal on the lid).  But as Denny said, the only way to know is to test gravity….don’t be discouraged. 

FWIW, I now use a Tilt and am able to see how quickly full fermentation can happen.  I brewed a lager Saturday and pitched from a harvested slurry -it was 1.047 at pitch, down to 1.034 by the next morning and just checked it at 1.022 this morning at 40 hours.  You might have simply missed the activity…I wish you the best in your brewing!

[redrocker652002]

I have had a few quick and clean ferments that drop out quickly, leaving a thin krausen ring as the only evidence of fermentation - no airlock activity (assumed at the time that it was a leaky seal on the lid).  But as Denny said, the only way to know is to test gravity….don’t be discouraged. 

FWIW, I now use a Tilt and am able to see how quickly full fermentation can happen.  I brewed a lager Saturday and pitched from a harvested slurry -it was 1.047 at pitch, down to 1.034 by the next morning and just checked it at 1.022 this morning at 40 hours.  You might have simply missed the activity…I wish you the best in your brewing!

Thank you for posting, and you are right.  I am going to check it probably tomorrow morning when I get home from work. I have an Ispindel, which I guess is somebody else's version of the Tilt, but I forgot to put it in the bucket   LOL   Lots of good it does me that way, huh?  LOL.  I hope that what you are saying is true and it just did not do anything in the airlock, but I don't know.  We will see tomorrow.  This was a brew of firsts for me, and I learned a few things on the way, so it was not a total loss.  LOL.  I already have my next brew ingredients, so I will be back on the horse probably this weekend

[redrocker652002]

Sorry for the late reply, but I did check the gravity.  And low and behold, it was at about 1.014 or so.  So, yes it did ferment.  Maybe not as much as it should have, but my OG was a bit low at 1.040.  This brew was a learning experience all the way thru.  From Mash temps to sparge to my first boilover.  Now, I learned that even if there is no activity in the airlock it don't mean that nothing is happening.  I know you all told me that, but I am a bit thick and need to learn it for myself.  I am going to bottle it in the next day or two and just see where it goes.  It didn't taste funky or anything and was very clean and very clear.  So, let's see where we end up   Once again, thanks to all who had input.  I know I am stupid and a bit stubborn about all this, but I do appreciate all the input.  Rock on!!!!

[BrewBama]

There’s no better teacher than experience.

[redrocker652002]

Gravity reading checked again and it is down to 1.012.  So, I am going to let it sit a bit more.  The closet has been sitting right at about 67 degrees or so.  So, as long as it won't hurt it, I am going to let it go until the end of next week where I have a couple of days off. 

[ScallyWag]

Cool.  I hope it turns out well for you.  Some yeasts are sneaky that way.  Which yeast did you use? 

If it tasted ok, no sign of infection, then you may get a nice beer where you were expecting none.  Bonus, right?!